Earlier on Monday, the Kremlin spokesman told reporters
that a number of mass media were preparing an outspoken pre-planned media
attack against Putin and his entourage.
WASHINGTON, March 28. /TASS/. The Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has refused to disclose the subject matter of publications concerning Russian President Vladimir Putin before they are published.
ICIJ Director Gerard Ryle made no comment to TASS on a statement by Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov who said it was an "outspokenly masterminded campaign".
"Yes, we are the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists, and we have requested comments from the Russian
authorities as part of the ongoing investigation. We will publish
shortly," he said.
"I can't say any more than that, I'm sorry,"
Gerard Ryle said in reply to the request to specify information as to where and
when publications were to appear.
Earlier on Monday, the Kremlin spokesman told reporters
that a number of mass media were preparing an outspoken pre-planned media
attack against Putin and his entourage.
He warned that the forthcoming publications would
concern Putin personally, attempts to reach information about his family and
also Putin’s old-time friends, including some businessmen, among them
Kovalchuk, Rottenberg and others. Also, the publications would concern certain
offshore companies and "a large number of businessmen Putin has never seen
in his life."
"Another media falsehood disguised as a sample of
objectivity is due within days. We have received some very honey-worded queries
looking like a questionnaire from an organization calling itself International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists," Peskov said. He said that
publications on the basis of that query were being prepared within days in
Germany, the United States, Britain, France, Switzerland and Russia.
"We believe that this is an outspokenly
masterminded campaign," Peskov said, adding that the organization he
mentioned might involve not only journalists, but representatives of special
services and organizations.
About the query from the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists Peskov said that its documents contained questions
that "have been asked hundreds of times and answered hundreds of
times." "The answers were legal, emotional and fact-stating."
He pointed out that Kremlin had decided to express its
attitude to this at its own initiative in advance. He voiced the hope that
journalists who put their names to such propaganda stuff would seek higher
professional standards after all.
Source: ITAR-TASS 29-03-2016
