Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has not been seen in public since he was quoted nearly three weeks ago as saying that Russia’s presidential elections were “not really democratic” and predicting a 90 percent victory for Vladimir Putin next year.
“Our presidential election is not really a democracy, it’s an expensive bureaucracy,” Peskov told The New York Times in an article published on August 6. “Mr Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote.”
The 2024 Russian presidential election is expected to be held on March 17 next year. Very soon, Putin must announce his candidacy for a sixth general presidential term. Under constitutional changes made before the war in Ukraine, Putin could remain in power until 2036.
Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels were quick to point out that Peskov did not hold media briefings or comment after his speech. His last briefing was on August 4, two days before his comments were published by The Times, local media reported.
On the day of publication, state media stood behind Peskov, saying his words had been misinterpreted and taken out of context, Newsweek wrote.
“The author of the article interpreted my words in an absolutely wrong way,” Peskov told the state news agency TASS, adding that he met and spoke with the author of the article and answered a question about the upcoming presidential election. .
“And the answer was this: the level of consolidation around the president is absolutely unprecedented, and now it can be said that if he runs for president, he will be re-elected overwhelmingly in the election.
Peskov insisted that he told The Times that “the president insisted that the elections be organized without fail, that this is what democracy requires.”
He told the Russian news site RBC that “although elections are a requirement of democracy and Putin himself has decided to hold them, it is theoretically possible that they will not be held.”
“Because it’s already obvious that Putin will be elected,” he added, noting that his statement was “absolutely my personal opinion.”
Meanwhile, a Telegram channel owned by Russian TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak suggested that Peskov is currently on vacation.
“Calm down. Peskov is on vacation. He said he will be back in 2 days,” the channel said in a post on Monday.
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2023-08-23 05:57:00
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