From Maria Zakharova; War and Reindeer

#Opinion by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

💬 The tombstone of Western values deserves a worthy inscription. A good contender cropped up yesterday: “Norwegian authorities killed 40 reindeer fearing they would again graze in Russia.” (https://www.svoboda.org/a/v-norvegii-ubili-40-oleney-rossiya-trebuet-milliony-za-ih-vypas-u-sebya/32565664.html) I am not at all surprised that Radio Liberty reported this with certain pride.

The drama unfolded gradually. According to the Norwegian authorities, in 2023, 42 deer went AWOL (without permission from official Oslo), crossed the border into Russia and grazed in a nature reserve in the Murmansk Region, causing significant damage to the recreation area. Back in July, Russia tried to resolve the matter peacefully and proposed that Norway pay some compensation for the damage caused to the nature in the reserve. The Norwegian authorities responded (https://lenta.ru/news/2023/07/28/oleni/) that they had not yet formed an opinion on this matter.

Now that most of the deer came back, the opinion has been formed. The offending animals were promptly executed, probably as a warning to other hoofed animals. As the Norwegian Agricultural Agency noted (https://apnews.com/article/norway-russia-reindeer-fence-b4ffdc7e7dd1b0a84fd8ebdf9e44fe3c), they are eagerly awaiting the return of two more deer. To the slaughter.

In fact, Norway uses veterinary supervision to disguise what amounts to a real zoocide. Any animals that are considered dangerous or brought to the country illegally are simply… killed. In 2020, we barely got back a Chihuahua belonging to our compatriot who had Bulgarian veterinary documents. Back then, even Jean-Claude Van Damme participated (https://rtvi.com/news/jkvd-spas-pepselya/) in the campaign to save the poor puppy. Last August, the veterinary supervision killed (https://www.fontanka.ru/2022/08/14/71569328/) a walrus named Freya, which often swam to Norwegian cities, even Oslo, and became a real darling of all of Norway. But this did not stop the Norwegian animal killers.

It did not prevent their colleagues at the Copenhagen Zoo, who killed (https://m.gazeta.ru/social/2014/02/10/5898045.shtml) Marius the giraffe with a bolt gun in 2014, in front of children stunned by the zoo staff’s cruelty. Let me remind you that later the carcass of the giraffe calf was butchered, also in the presence of little children, and given to the lions.

Where were their famous animal rights activists? Where are they now? Greenpeace? WWF? Anyone?

At the same time, what happened is blasphemy and a sacrilege for Norway’s indigenous people, the small northern Sami nation. Reindeer husbandry has a central place in the Sami culture, and sacrifices were offered to the totem Myanndash, a man-deer, who, according to legend, is an ancestor of the Sami. Offending a deer means bringing trouble to the entire nomad camp. It must never be done, because spirits would not forgive this.

But the Norwegian neoliberals and animal haters from veterinary control don’t care about the feelings of the Sami, their mythology, or even European humanism, unbelievable as this sounds.

So, if anyone sees the two surviving deer, please tell them not to return to the Norwegian flayers. There is nothing good waiting for them there.