Animal rights activists Yulia Shakiro and Tatyana Tayurskaya were detained in April 2026 in front of the Irkutsk parliament. They came to persuade deputies to abandon the bill on the extermination of stray dogs. The activists were sent to a police van, and the documents were adopted two months later and sent for the governor's signature. How the mongrel dog Busi ended up at the center of the story and why the Irkutsk authorities banned walking around the city with balloons was investigated by a journalist from 'Veter'. Dog Busi. Photo: Veter project. The material was first published on the Veter project website. Dog with a banner On the morning of April 15, 2026, the square in front of the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk region was filled with police. Several service UAZs and more than two dozen employees arrived – in uniform and plainclothes. They were expecting an unsanctioned rally against the bill, which was being discussed in the first reading in parliament: on the treatment of stray cats and dogs. It provides for the euthanasia of animals if their owner is not found within 11 days. Mass protests did not happen, but residents with dogs began to gather in the square. Zoo-lawyer Yulia Shakiro wanted to meet with deputies to discuss the new document. She captured that morning in a live broadcast on her phone. No more than ten residents are visible on it: they are waiting for the lawmakers who were meeting in a beautiful building in the style of Soviet classicism. It was still cool outside, but the snow was gone: the square was framed by neat lawns with last year's withered grass. Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Mikhailovich. Photo: Veter project. — Are you the organizer of this event? — a uniformed police officer, who introduced himself as Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Mikhailovich, asks Yulia. — Of what? — Gathering citizens… — I organized myself and my dog by walking her, — Yulia replies. She came to the square with a three-colored mongrel dog named Busi, whom she was temporarily looking after. Busi's owner abandoned her after eight years of living with her: the dog caused a lot of trouble, gnawed furniture, and whimpered. As it turned out, she suffered from bone disease. Yulia put the inscriptions "Looking for a home" and "I want to live" on Busi's hoodie. — You posted a call for citizens to gather at this location on social media, — the lieutenant colonel shows a screenshot of an announcement where an anonymous user invited residents to come to the government for the first reading of the bill. — I posted it? Where? — Yulia clarifies. — On social networks. — Where? Plainclothes police officer. Photo: Veter project. — Well, where… — the lieutenant colonel clearly does not know which social network it is. — You have an organized event. You are gathering citizens, — he insists and threatens Yulia with a fine under Article 20.2.2 (organization of a mass event that led to a violation of public order) if she does not leave the square. He could not detain the activist yet: she had not violated anything. Even the banner on Busi is still considered a single picket, not yet prohibited in Russia. The bill Yulia Shakiro has been working on animal rights for almost twenty years. As she says herself, she wanted to become a veterinarian in childhood, but she submitted documents to the law faculty when she saw how stray animals were treated in Russia. “It turned out that at the shelter I visited, I walked different dogs each time because the previous ones were killed,” she explains. There are no stray dogs in the center of Irkutsk. On the outskirts, according to locals, there are plenty of abandoned huskies, Dobermans, and Staffordshire terriers. The initiator of the bill on the euthanasia of stray dogs in the region was the "Association of Municipalities of the Irkutsk Region." The organization, in particular, is fighting for city and district mayors not to be held criminally liable in case of dog attacks on people. They consider the residents themselves who abandon their pets to be guilty of this. "Society itself created this problem, irresponsibly treating its closest four-legged friends for decades. There is no bad garbage reform: we arrive in the forest, and it is all littered with garbage. The reform didn't do that!" — said the chairman of the association, United Russia member Vadim Semenov, at the bill reading. Yulia Shakiro. Photo: Veter project. The document proposes to introduce an "extraordinary situation" regime if city services find more than 10 ownerless animals within a square kilometer. They are to be captured, sent to temporary holding facilities (PVS), and euthanized after 11 days. Similar laws have been adopted in more than 30 regions of Russia today. — I am sincerely convinced that a culture of responsibility should begin with officials. And today, the only thing this bill allows is to relieve them of responsibility for [improper] treatment of animals, — Yulia Shakiro emphasizes in an interview with "Veter". — This bill is unviable because it de facto stops the TNVR program (catch, sterilize, vaccinate, and release the dog to its original habitat. — Editorial note). The algorithms for returning animals to the street are abolished by this law. The document allows the killing of almost 100% of animals, although federal regulations state that 70% of animals must be returned to their original habitat. Letter Police officers gather around Yulia and also film her. A young man in a Nike jacket aims a handheld video camera at the activist. A policewoman with a cap over her long black hair is armed with a phone. They are joined by an employee of the Irkutsk administration, Igor Medvedev — that's what he called himself during the broadcast. The official represents the department for public events: the very one that decides whether citizens can gather, when they can do it, and where. — These things are a public event. It is not sanctioned. You are violating the law! — Medvedev decides to play the role of a police officer. A local resident in a lemon-colored down jacket intervenes in the dialogue. A snow-white husky and a corgi are leashed to her. „ — Without animals, there is no life on earth, let alone without such helpers. It's interesting in general. When it's necessary to save, search for people, look for drugs, then, it turns out, animals are very necessary. And what is happening in the world now? I want to know what will happen to our future, — she asks the police questions. The lieutenant colonel points out to Yulia that the event in the square is so outrageous that some residents are even "collecting signatures." He glances at Tatyana Alekseevna Antonovich — a local entrepreneur and co-founder of the "Irkutsk Society for Animal Protection." This is a woman in a pink jacket with bright red lipstick. She is rummaging through papers. It turns out that she was not collecting signatures, as the lieutenant colonel thought, but showing a letter to the head of the Irkutsk Investigative Committee, Anatoly Sitnikov. Detention of Yulia Shakiro and the dog Busi. Photo: Veter project. — Are we, humans, not threatened by something similar in the future? We also suffer from diseases dangerous to other people. Extraordinary situations can be avoided altogether. And we, animal rights activists, have repeatedly proposed effective measures that are ignored by the authorities. First of all, we are talking about building shelters, not throwing money away on PVS, — it says. Antonovich suggests limiting free-roaming animals (when an animal walks on the street without an owner), building and transferring "successful" shelters to animal rights activists, and also continuing the TNVR program. It is currently used in countries like India, Turkey, and Georgia. Shakiro also insists that animals in the taiga zone should be returned to the street, as they create a "sanitary cordon" by driving away rabid foxes and bears from the city. — For what purpose did you come here? — the lieutenant colonel asks Antonovich. — To chat. — With whom? — With this lady… — Antonovich points to a slender woman in a black beret. — About what? — the policeman looms over her. — And is it part of your duties to know what we are talking about? We are discussing a lover! — Antonovich puts him in his place, but immediately adds: — I am not against the authorities, but we are not doing anything wrong, by the way. With a machine gun on balloons A local volunteer, Tatyana Tayurskaya, appears in the square. She takes care of the "Barboskin Dom" shelter, whose owner passed away last year. She doesn't like the word "volunteer": she's just a person who loves dogs, she explains in a conversation with "Veter", emphasizing that no one pays her for her work. In a sky-blue down jacket and with a hairstyle almost like Uma Thurman's in "Pulp Fiction," Tayurskaya is carrying balloon dogs behind her. For the police, this means one thing – in addition to Busi, there is another picket in the square. According to the law, there should be a distance of 50 meters between single picketers, which the activists did not observe. As Tayurskaya later explained, she wanted to cheer up Busi and other dogs with the balloons. „ She did not intend to campaign against the bill, although she has many complaints: for example, will the dogs sent for slaughter in the PVS be fed, or will it be more economical to starve them, she wonders. A police officer runs up to Yulia Shakiro and hands her a paper with the inscription "Official Warning." The woman is informed of her "anti-social behavior" as she is violating the rules of rallies, demonstrations, or picketing. Detention of Tatyana Tayurskaya. Photo: Veter project. An employee with a machine gun appears in the square. He collects the balloons and takes them away. Yulia is told that she must proceed to the police van. — You have already committed an offense. The administration gave you time, — Medvedev insists. Police officers lead Yulia away from the square and open the metal door to the trunk of a UAZ "Patriot" for her. The meter-by-meter compartment has two chairs. Yulia is placed there with Busi. Tatyana Tayurskaya and the lady in the black beret are placed in the back seat. — The emotions are terrible because I was in shock and overwhelmed by a completely illegal situation. „ Throughout all the conversations, I was misled, given completely illegal demands and pressure. [In shock] from the number of people, both in uniform and clearly affiliated with them in civilian clothes. I sat down and cried. Including from sharp abdominal pain: my bleeding started from anxiety, — recalls Yulia Shakiro. — I was offered to call an ambulance at the police department. I refused, as I planned to write an explanation and leave quickly. I didn't expect them to drag out the interrogation process until the evening… I knew how to help myself without doctors, but they didn't let me go to the pharmacy, only a police officer shared a personal pill from her purse. At noon, the sound of bells was heard in the square. The deputies' session ended without further questions: the bill was adopted in the first reading. Two months later, on June 17, 2026, the majority of deputies voted for the document in the second and final reading. Regional Governor Igor Kobzev urged his colleagues to show humanity and strike a balance between public safety and animal welfare during the discussion. Today, the document is awaiting his signature. Yulia Shakiro and Tatyana Tayurskaya were released from the department that same evening. Busi was not harmed during the detention. "She lay calmly on the floor at the station, ate a treat, and didn't bother anyone," Yulia said. Shakiro was fined 15,000 rubles, and Tayurskaya 12,000 for violating public event rules (20.2 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). In June, during the City Day celebration, Irkutsk authorities banned citizens from attending the event with dogs and balloons. Author: Yulia Kulikova