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Spokesman denies change in Putin's work schedule for health reasons

Dmitry Peskov underlined that no plans either to cancel or postpone the president’s earlier scheduled visits for health reasons were being discussed

MOSCOW, November 1 (Itar-Tass) — A Kremlin source has denied reports circulated by a number of media outlets alleging that the work schedule of President Putin was being changed for health reasons.

"The information that Vladimir Putin's work schedule is being changed in connection with his health problems does not conform to the reality," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Itar-Tass. He drew attention to the fact that a number of media agencies in their reports on this subject quoted unnamed sources. "We do not know what particular sources they quoted, but in any case this is not true," the spokesman said.

Peskov confirmed that these media outlets in their reports mentioned the fact that during the APEC summit in September President Putin had walked, visibly limping. "That fully conformed to the reality," Peskov admitted. "A few days prior to the summit the president had strained his muscle during a sports drill. But it is not the point now," Peskov stressed. "Such reports are no more than an invention, while a strong interest displayed in the matter deserves a more worthy subject," the spokesman said.

Peskov underlined that no plans either to cancel or postpone the president’s earlier scheduled visits for health reasons were being discussed. "The dates of Putin's visits to any of the countries mentioned in the mass media have not been announced officially. Therefore, it is not the matter of cancelling or postponing a visit. All the visits are paid when preparations for a visit are complete on the assigned level and the agenda of a visit is well studied,” Peskov said. "Putin has never dealt with political tourism; all his visits have a pragamatic character and they are highly efficient," the presidential spokesman said.

Several visits are in a preparatory stage now, but the preparations have not been properly done yet. As for a number of above-mentioned visits, the preparations for them are underway, Peskov said.

“As for Putin's forthcoming visits to Turkey and India, the dates of both visits have been announced - December 3 and December 24, respectively,” Peskov declared. The dates of other visits will be announced as soon as they are coordinated via diplomatic channels, Peskov added.

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