Svetlana Bachurina is a mother of three, and struggles to provide for her family, making toy souvenirs and selling them to tourists in the Yaroslavl Region, northeast of Moscow. She is the household's main breadwinner, with her husband relying only on odd jobs for income.
"Some said I'm just crazy and that I would have prospered for the rest of my life, while others believe, like me, that this kind of money could not bring happiness. Why do I need something that doesn't belong to me? I will earn my own living, and my conscience will be clean," she told the Yaroslavl State Broadcasting Company in an interview.
The TV channel said Svetlana enjoys only modest earnings during the winter, because of the seasonal decline in visitors to the medieval parts of Yaroslavl and Uglich, and the lack of employment possibilities in her backwater town.
However, when her dog Druzhok sniffed out a bag stuffed with euros on a winter day, she did not think twice about returning the money to its wealthy owner. The lost bag also contained an ID card, which helped her track him down.
The happy owner offered Svetlana a generous reward, but much to his surprise, she rejected it.
Svetlana did not tell her family members anything about the find until after returning it. She explained that she was not sure whether they would understand her altruism. Many of her friends did not.
