PING! a truly significant story, which our own mainstream media ignores! This is by far more interesting than what’s taking up headlines these days.
Russians do love cats! The Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg is famous for the cats living there.
During WWII and the 900 day siege of the city (Leningrad), there was mass starvation and the cat population unfortunately was…well, a source of protein. The resulting absence of cats led to a huge surge in the rat population, which in turn resulted in outbreaks of the plague.
After the Germans were driven back and the siege was lifted, the British parachuted hundred of cats into the city to deal with the rat population and save the city from the plague. The cats of St Petersburg today are the descendants of those cats.