Putin denies Navalny claim that he owns palace
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that an opulent Black Sea palace that the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny had accused him of owning did not belong to him or his family.
Navalny’s team released a video last week in which he levelled his allegations about the palace, which has since been viewed more than 86 million times on Youtube. “Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did,” Putin said during a video call with students, in reference to an investigation Navalny’s team published last week. Putin called weekend protests demanding the release of Navalny illegal and dangerous.
He told the students that nobody should use illegal actions to further their own political interests. He also said underage children should not take part in street protests, adding that police should act within the law.
Police detained more than 3,500 people across Russia on Saturday after tens of thousands of people ignored police warnings to call for Navalny’s release.
Russia on Monday protested to the US embassy for what Moscow said were social media posts promoting the demonstrations and accused American tech giants of interfering in Russian internal affairs.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state-run media that Moscow had complained to US diplomats for “supporting illegal rallies” in several cities and said Russia would probe American IT companies over “interference” in domestic affairs.