Kremlin accuses US Treasury of slander and says the BBC dances to Washington's tune

The Kremlin's official spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, says US allegations that President Putin is corrupt are “pure fabrication and slander.”

Peskov was reacting to a new short film produced by BBC News, which includes several interviews connecting Putin to large scale corruption.

Notably, US Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin says Washington has been aware of Putin's corruption for “many, many years.”

The US Treasury must provide evidence when they connect the Russian President with corruption, says Peskov. “Making such accusations on behalf of such an institution as the US Treasury without concrete supporting evidence casts a shadow over the whole institution,” he explained. Peskov was sure to emphasize, however, that Russia will not demand any kind of evidence from the US Treasury.

Peskov also quipped the BBC's video “shows who is in the conductor's seat,” implying the media outlet follows orders from the US government.

“It is not our task to demand evidence. Rather, it is the task of this institution to provide evidence and show the pronouncements from an official representative are not just unfounded slander,” Peskov said.

TASS

• The film “Putin's Secret Riches,” which aired by the BBC on January 25, includes interviews with Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky, who claims that President Putin's personal wealth amounts to $40 billion.
• The BBC report also offered information about Putin's finances from people who claimed to have contributed to the president's secret wealth, but then, for various reasons, decided to leave Russia (for example, disgraced oligarchs).