时间:2025-05-01 13:35:12 来源:网络整理编辑:知識
Teflon Putin, as the Russian president has been called for his ability to let accusations roll right
Teflon Putin, as the Russian president has been called for his ability to let accusations roll right off of him, was in pristine form on Thursday.
It's been five days since the Panama Papers, which some are calling the biggest leak in the history of journalism, uncovered evidence showing his close friends laundered money through elaborate offshore financial schemes, likely for his benefit.
SEE ALSO:#PanamaPapers breaks the Internet with revelations of global corruptionSpeaking for the first time since the revelations, which came with the leak of millions of confidential documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, Putin casually dismissed them, denying "any element of corruption."
Then he repeated a line pushed by Russian state media, as well as Wikileaks, that the papers are merely a U.S.-orchestrated disinformation campaign waged against Russia to weaken its government and force regime change.
"WikiLeaks has shown us that official people and official U.S. organs are behind this," Putin said.
Tweet may have been deleted
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, earlier this week said the papers "found out little new" and blamed "Putinphobia" for Western media's focus on the president.
Putin himself was not named in the Panama Papers, something he brought up. "Your humble servant was not there, but they don't talk about that," he said, referring to Western media.
The Kremlin has posted a transcript of the event with Putin's comments.
But the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) found the names of some of the Russian president's closest friends involved in offshore financial schemes.
One of them was Sergei Roldugin, a renowned Russian cellist and decades long friend of Putin's. Their friendship dates back to the 1970s, even before Putin's KGB days, when the two men used to cruise Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), get into street fights and play football together. Roldugin is also the godfather to Putin's daughter Maria.
SEE ALSO:Russian cellist named in Panama Papers is at the heart of a $2 billion scandalPutin said his longtime comrade, who was found in the Panama Papers to be the owner of $2 billion in offshore assets, has done nothing wrong.
"He is a minority shareholder in one of our companies and it makes some money, but it is certainly not billions of dollars. That's nonsense," the president said.
Putin said he was proud of Roldugin, adding that the musician spent his personal money to buy expensive musical instruments from abroad and bring them to Russia in order to advance the country's cultural projects.
"We always welcome when someone does something like this, but it goes even further," Putin said. "I am proud that I have such friends."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Uber's $100M settlement over drivers as contractors may not be enough2025-05-01 13:22
鐵甲依然在,上華為視頻看《九州縹緲錄》2025-05-01 13:17
《青山未暮已思歸》再現民國風情2025-05-01 12:49
張馨予神雕俠侶片段曝光 一人分飾兩角挑戰經典2025-05-01 12:33
17 questions you can answer if you're a good communicator2025-05-01 12:15
豆小鴨第二季:神奇小分隊演職員表2025-05-01 12:06
2019象牙山冰泉上市震撼發布,開拓IP產業化新格局2025-05-01 11:44
景甜《一場遇見愛情的旅行》二輪播出 遇愛小分隊集結再起航2025-05-01 11:43
New Zealand designer's photo series celebrates the elegance of aging2025-05-01 11:37
芒果TV《妄想少女MOMO》收官,宅男程序員秦奮甜蜜戀愛終止2025-05-01 11:28
Slack goes down again, prompting anxiety everywhere2025-05-01 13:26
蘇麗:端莊 、憨萌兩不誤 演技咖hold住各類角色2025-05-01 13:13
劉奕君《無主之城》遭突變 荒島求生結局成謎2025-05-01 13:03
《再見啦!母親大人》開放媒體探班 董潔尹昉演繹中國版“東京塔”母子深情2025-05-01 12:48
Fiji wins first2025-05-01 12:39
西瓜視頻獨播《亮劍》:令人難忘的平安縣城一戰2025-05-01 12:36
劉奕君《無主之城》遭突變 荒島求生結局成謎2025-05-01 12:16
UNC vs. Wagner basketball livestreams: How to watch live2025-05-01 11:45
Honda's all2025-05-01 11:16
談一談西瓜視頻獨播的《亮劍》中讓人感動又讓人熱血的場景2025-05-01 11:05