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Algeria’s acting president Bensalah, Putin had normal discussion in Sochi — spokesman

The presidential press secretary claimed that in the case of Bensalah "presenting a report" to Putin it was hardly possible to use the term "report"

MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. The mention of the situation in Algeria during a meeting between that country’s acting president, Abdelkader Bensalah and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on October 24 did not go beyond the bounds of a normal agenda of bilateral meetings, Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told the media on Tuesday.

Earlier, some media said that participants in protest demonstrations in Algeria had criticized Bensalah for presenting a report to Putin about the state of affairs in the country declaring that stability had been restored and the authorities controlled the situation.

Peskov disagreed with such comments, saying that in this particular case it was hardly possible to use the term "report."

"It was an absolutely routine conversation between two parties, normal at bilateral meetings. Everybody knows that Algeria is in the process of preparations for forthcoming elections. There are many candidates. Naturally, any head of state that leads the country on a permanent or temporary basis tells his counterparts that everything in his country is absolutely normal, predictable and within the legal space," Peskov stated.