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Kremlin says Reuters article about Moscow allocating funds to ‘ease discontent’ wrong

The Kremlin spokesman stressed that funds are doled out regularly for targeted support of those categories of people that need it most

© Sergei Bobylyov/TASS

MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Russia constantly allocates additional funds for social support needs and not just to "quell protests", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday when asked to clarify whether the recent Reuters article about Russia’s planned social spending package aimed to "ease discontent" in the country is true.

"Neither is true, both [statements] are wrong <…>. Firstly, this is not a goal. Secondly, there are no one off amounts that are planned to be announced soon," Peskov said.

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Peskov warns against comparing protests in Russia and Belarus

He added, "additional funds are allocated constantly to support doctors and children, it is a continuous process."

The spokesman stressed that funds are doled out regularly for targeted support of those categories of people that need it most. "It continues on a regular basis. There are no preplanned packages of 500 billion [rubles] ($6.75 billion - TASS)," he stressed.

Peskov said that the Russian Presidential Administration received a request from Reuters Monday which stated that the agency "learnt that either 500 or 800 billion or even 1 trillion rubles is planned to allocate to address protests." At the same time, according to the spokesman, the agency published the article "after around 20 minutes" without waiting to receive a response to the request.

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