Crossword Genius

Admire a speaking dog from Russia (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

laika

'dog from russia' is the definition.
(Laika the dog was sent to space by Russia)

'admire a' is the wordplay.
'admire' becomes 'laik' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'laik'+'a'='LAIKA'

'speaking' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.

(Other definitions for laika that I've seen before include "early space traveller" , "First dog in orbit" , "Soviet dog in space" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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