Mir, a 12-year-old male Siberian cat that Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted to Akita Prefecture, died from an illness Tuesday, the prefectural government said the same day.
Akita Gov. Norihisa Satake had cared for the cat.
The prefecture presented female Akita dog Yume to Putin in 2012 as a token of its gratitude for Russia’s assistance offered to areas affected by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that mainly hit the Tohoku region, which includes Akita.
Putin gave the male cat to the prefecture in return in 2013, and Satake named it Mir, which means peace in Russian. Satake has been in the governor’s post since 2009.
Every February, Satake uploaded a video of Mir on the prefecture’s official YouTube channel to coincide with the cat’s birthday, Feb. 12, and on other occasions.
Even after Russia started to invade Ukraine in February 2022, the governor continued to release information about Mir, saying that the cat is innocent.
