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Kremlin says coordinating SPIEF moderator role with Putin, doubts sanity of Western press

Earlier reports said the SPEF plenary session with Putin would be moderated by Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the RT broadcaster and Rossiya Segodnya media group

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. The candidate for a moderator role in the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) with President Vladimir Putin to be held on June 17 is currently being coordinated with the president, who is comfortable with Russian and foreign reporters alike, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Monday.

"The president feels comfortable communicating with both foreign and Russian reporters," Peskov explained. However, he doubted the sanity of most Western reporters.

"The sanity of many prominent Western reporters is currently raising questions, at least for us, and we wouldn’t call them true and unbiased journalists, because all of them have simply gone nuts," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Earlier reports said the SPEF plenary session with Putin would be moderated by Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the RT broadcaster and Rossiya Segodnya media group.

"Margarita [Simonyan] is a world class reporter and media manager," Peskov said. "So for us, she leaves journalists in the dust internationally, that’s why it’s her who will be the moderator," he concluded.

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