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Kremlin ready to wait until 2023 for Fox News journalist apologies

"This is an awkward situation for Fox News", the Kremlin spokesman said

MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. The Kremlin believes the abusive remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin by Fox News anchor, Bill O’Reilly, do this TV channel no credit. However, it has no intention of blowing the incident out of proportion, Russian Presidential Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Tuesday.

"We do not feel like exaggerating it and have no intention of blowing it out of proportion. This is an awkward situation for Fox News rather than for us," the Kremlin spokesman said.

When asked whether the Russian authorities’ attitude towards this TV network could change, Peskov emphasized that Kremlin is guided "strictly by provisions of the media law, which is in effect in our country." "We have the same attitude towards both domestic - federal and regional - and international media," he said.

"Anyway, this is an insult. First, a media correspondent utters it. Then the media’s editors prefer to keep quiet about it. Of course, this does little credit to this media outlet," Peskov added.

The Kremlin spokesman noted that it is possible to wait for apologies from Bill O’Reilly in 2023 for his insulting remarks about the Russian leader. "We have a different understanding of good manners and etiquette with this gentleman," he said commenting the journalist’s statement that he may apologize for his words in 2023. "We are very kind and very patient. We will make a note in the calendar for 2023 and return to him with this question."

According to earlier reports as Trump was interviewed on Fox News, the TV host in one of the questions about US-Russian relations called Putin a "killer." Trump replied, "We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent..? I say it’s better to get along with Russia than not."

Russian Presidential Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said shortly after that the Kremlin considers a statement by the Fox News host insulting and impermissible and would prefer to "receive apologies addressed to the Russian president from such a respectable television network." O’Reilly later noted with sarcasm that he may be ready to offer apologies in 2023.