The Kremlin sees no reason to view Western criticism against Moscow over blogger Alexey Navalny’s prison term as grounds for Russian President Vladimir Putin to urgently respond to these sentiments, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
"That’s far from being a reason for the president to provide an urgent response but as you know, he makes statements on different topics at various events so if the issue remains relevant, someone will probably ask him such a question in the future," Peskov noted, TASS reports.
The Kremlin press secretary pointed out that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had earlier clarified Russia’s position on the matter, excoriating allegations against Moscow as unacceptable. "We do not intend to consider statements like these on the application of our laws to those who violate them, pursuant to Russian court verdicts," Peskov stressed. "We are willing to clarify these issues but we aren’t ready to discuss them with anyone," he added.
