Ukraine’s Combat Dolphins Now Swim for Russia

Following the Russian takeover of Crimea this month, a lot of residents of Crimea are being asked to switch sides — but not all of those residents are human. Crimea — formerly a part of Ukraine — was formally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russian troops took control of military bases, ports and other facilities located on the Crimean peninsula. And now, in addition to millions of people who find that they're new citizens of Russia, the combat dolphins that were once part of the Ukrainian navy have new masters: the Russian Emergencies Ministry, according to state-run news service RIA Novosti. "We plan on using our dolphins to train together with Emergencies Ministry divers to search for submerged items or arms," an employee of the Sevastopol State Oceanarium told RIA Novosti.