MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot oblige top managers of state-controlled companies to publish data on their incomes, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"The president expressed his opinion [during a recent question-and-answer conference] and this was not outlined as an instruction. Moreover, in this case, he cannot give an instruction on this score," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman said this issue should not be "addressed to us."

The Russian government issued a resolution in late March canceling the recently-adopted requirement for top managers of companies with state stakes to publish information on their incomes and expenditures.

The presidential spokesman earlier said the Kremlin had not exerted any pressure on the government to pass the decision on cancelling the obligatory publication of income and expenses by state companies’ bosses.

"No, this was not the case [the Kremlin’s pressure on the government]," Peskov said. "This is the issue, which is wholly and fully the prerogative of the Cabinet of Ministers," Peskov said.

The requirement for the heads of state companies to submit information on their incomes to the government but not publicly was introduced in the summer of 2013. The list comprised 62 companies, including rail monopoly Russian Railways (RZD), oil major Rosneft, gas giant Gazprom, hi-tech nanotechnology corporation Rosnano and retail savings bank Sberbank.

Putin said during his Q&A conference on April 16 he would recommend the heads of large state companies to disclose data on their incomes voluntarily because "there is nothing terrible about that."