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Wearing a collar containing satellite-guided positioning equipment Putin's dog Koni walks ahead of his owner, now Russia's Prime Minister, right, in Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2008.
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Russia's satellite navigation system isn't fully operational yet, but it seems to work on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's dog.
Putin listened Friday as his deputy, Sergei Ivanov, briefed him on the progress of the Global Navigation Satellite System. Then footage broadcast on Russian TV showed them try a collar containing satellite-guided positioning equipment on the prime minister's black Labrador Koni.
Ivanov said that the equipment goes on a standby mode when "the dog doesn't move, if it, say, lies down in a puddle."
Putin interrupted him jokingly: "My dog isn't a piglet, it doesn't lie in puddles."
"She looks sad," Ivanov said. "Her free life is over."
"She wags her tail, she likes it," Putin said after watching Koni outside his colonnaded residence on Moscow's western outskirts.
The navigation system, which goes by acronym GLONASS, was developed during the Soviet era.
The government had promised to make the system fully operational by the beginning of this year, but it was delayed by equipment flaws and other technical problems.
Ivanov told Putin that the system would have 21 satellites by the year's end — enough to provide navigation services over the entire Russian territory.
Ivanov said it would be available worldwide by the end of 2009, for which it would need to have 24 satellites.
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(Agencies)
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俄羅斯的衛星定位系統還未全面投入使用，不過經過普京總理愛犬的檢驗證明，它的性能還不錯。
普京總理于上周五聽取了副總理伊萬諾夫關于“全球衛星定位系統”建設的進展匯報。據俄羅斯電視臺播放的畫面顯示，（技術人員）給普京總理的黑色拉布拉多獵犬“科尼”戴上了一個內置衛星定位裝置的項圈。
伊萬諾夫說，當科尼不動時，比如趴在坑里時，定位項圈就會進入待機模式。
普京打斷他，開玩笑說：“科尼又不是小豬，不會趴在坑里。”
伊萬諾夫說：“她看起來很難過，從此要失去自由了。”
看見戴上項圈的科尼在其位于莫斯科西郊的住所外（搖起了尾巴），普京說：“她在搖尾巴，看來她喜歡這個項圈。”
俄羅斯的這一“全球衛星定位系統”（英文縮寫“GLONASS”）早在蘇聯時期就開始開發了。
俄羅斯政府原計劃在今年年初將該系統全面投入使用，但因設備故障和其他技術原因而推遲。
伊萬諾夫對普京說，到今年年底，全球衛星定位系統將擁有21顆衛星，足以覆蓋俄羅斯全境。
他說，到2009年底，該系統的衛星數量有望達到24顆，從而實現全球定位導航。
（實習生瞿漫 英語點津姍姍編輯）
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