Russian Gov't Arrests Homeless, Brutally Slaughters Puppies to make way for Group of 8

[F]or the uninvited, unwanted and unwelcome -- a group that ranged from political activists to stray dogs -- St. Petersburg has been another object lesson in the Russian state's determination to contain dissent and maintain the appearance of order, a phenomenon that Sergei Markov, a political consultant who works for the Kremlin, described in a recent interview as "bureaucratic hyper-loyalty."

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The city's homeless have been rounded up and hustled to abandoned former Soviet campgrounds in distant suburbs, Kosinova said. "They should be freed next week," she said.

Officials have also run a campaign to rid the city of rats as well as stray cats and dogs. Strays were poisoned, according to Baltic Care of Animals, and their bodies were incinerated. But, the organization said in a letter to G-8 leaders, city employees "are stingy with their poison so they will not expend it on puppies, instead cracking their heads open against a wall or cutting their throats with some wire."