Russia Says Peanut the Squirrel’s Death ‘Reminiscent of US Foreign Policy’

The death of an internet-famous pet squirrel highlights the problems with American foreign policy, according to a prominent Russian official.
Peanut, or P’Nut, was seized from the home of its owner, Mark Longo, in late October, and subsequently euthanized by the New York state environmental conservation department. While the authorities told Newsweek that the decision was made because of the potential exposure of humans to rabies, Peanut’s death sparked outrage online, even briefly becoming a flashpoint in the U.S. presidential election.
On Tuesday, county officials said that the squirrel, which had amassed a half-million followers on Instagram prior to its death, had tested negative for rabies, the Associated Press reported. This sparked further furor over the euthanasia, including from those at the Kremlin.
“It’s somewhat reminiscent of the entire American foreign policy,” Maria Zakharova, director of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s press department, posted to Telegram on Thursday.
Zakharova shared a post from George Lobushkin, former press secretary for Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who linked to an NBC News article about Peanut’s test results.
“It’s somewhat reminiscent of the story of Saddam Hussein, ” Lobushkin captioned the post.
With their comments, Lobushkin and Zakharova appeared to compare the squirrel’s euthanasia with America’s supposed foreign policy decisions, such as the 2006 execution of the deposed Iraqi president, decried at the time by the Russian government as the steppingstone to further destabilization of the country.
The confiscation of Peanut, and the subsequent euthanasia, was viewed by many as a textbook case of government overreach.
On November 4, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Joe Rogan discussed the squirrel during a podcast, with both questioning whether U.S. authorities were justified in the decision to take Peanut from his owner, who had kept him as a pet for seven years.
Musk said: “How can it be that we live in America, supposedly the land of the free, and the government can barge into your home with guns, so if you resist, you’re gonna get shot, and then take your pets and execute them?”
Rogan, commenting on the videos that Peanut’s owner posted on Instagram and TikTok of the animal playing, added: “Why would you kill that cute little squirrel that was obviously a pet and trained from the time it was a baby?”
During a campaign event in North Carolina in early November, Ohio Senator and then-vice presidential nominee JD Vance told rallygoers that now-President-elect Donald Trump was “fired up” about Peanut’s death, and he questioned why “Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels.”
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