President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday denied rumors that his cat Dorofei had run away, amidst a flurry of speculation in the media and on the Internet.
“On the issue of the cat. From sources close to Dorofei, it has become clear that he hasn't gotten lost anywhere. Thanks to everyone for the trouble!” he wrote on Twitter.
News site Sobesednik.ru reported Wednesday morning without citing any sources that Medvedev's cat, Dorofei, had gone missing from the presidential residence on Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Shosse. The site said police were searching for the cat “practically under every bush,” missing cat flyers were put up on the main road, and plans to form a search party of volunteers on Sunday had been made.
Police also denied the report earlier in the morning, adding that there was no search for the animal under way.
“We have no statements about a missing cat; we are not looking for any animals. This is all a 'red herring.' No cats have gone missing from the presidential residence,” a police spokesman told RIA-Novosti.
The cat's name, written in Cyrillic, began trending on Twitter worldwide Wednesday morning as tens of thousands of messages discussing the cat's disappearance flooded the micro-blogging site.
Sobesednik claimed that the cat is a rare breed that costs more than $1,000 and was hand-picked by the president's wife, Svetlana Medvedeva.
