In St. Petersburg, the Second Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction has invalidated a law in the Murmansk Region that permitted the euthanasia of stray dogs deemed aggressive. This information was reported by the publication RBC.
A lawsuit demanding the repeal of this regulatory act was filed in January with the Murmansk Regional Court by local resident Sergei Chernetsov. In his opinion, the wording "unmotivated aggressiveness" is too vague and opens the possibility for the mass extermination of animals, including those that are lost.
The court of first instance dismissed the lawsuit, after which Chernetsov and his representative, lawyer Alexander Mintyukov, filed an appeal.
The Second Court of Appeal supported the plaintiffs' position, stating that the euthanasia of dogs displaying unmotivated aggression on the 11th day after capture is unacceptable in the absence of medical grounds.
As Mintyukov told RBC, "the law has been repealed by the appellate decision, but the defendants have the right to appeal it. The reasoning part of the decision will be published later."
The defendants in the case are the Governor of the Murmansk Region, Andrey Chibis, and the regional parliament. According to activist Violetta Grudinina in her Telegram channel, they intend to appeal the appellate court's verdict.
The law permitting the euthanasia of stray dogs 11 days after capture if they display unmotivated aggression was adopted by the Murmansk Regional Duma in October 2024 and came into force in January. According to the document, the decision on euthanasia was to be made by a special commission.
Similar regulations are in effect in 17 regions of the Russian Federation, but they are not used everywhere. For example, in the Stavropol Territory, as of February 2025, 333 dogs were captured over a month and a half, but none were euthanized. In Udmurtia, euthanasia is also almost never applied, despite its legal permission.