MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin still does not use a smartphone, although he does use the Internet from time to time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station.
"He doesn’t have a smartphone, it’s simply impossible," the spokesman said.
While Putin does occasionally use the Internet, the head of state does not have too much time, Peskov said, answering a question whether Putin was able to read numerous online publications about himself and his surroundings.
Kremlin spokesman reminded that, during the last few days, Putin was preparing for the press conference, dealt with the pressing state issues, including food prices. Speaking about the recent publications regarding blogger Alexey Navalny, Peskov noted that, should he have tried to "take this nonsense to the president," Putin "would have said everything that is supposed to be said at moments like this."
When asked, what is supposed to be said at moments like this, Peskov noted that this is not to be said on air.
Answering a question regarding who may be behind fake news about Putin’s personal life, Peskov noted that some recently published materials "have some foreign intelligence agencies all over them," but refrained from naming those foreign countries.
On Thursday, Putin named US State Department and US intelligence agencies as authors of fake news about him and his family.
"The goal of these publications is clear. Their goal is revenge. And an attempt to sway the public opinion in our country in order to meddle, of course, in our internal political life," the president said.
"They [fake news] were always there, it is a form of informational standoff that is going on," he underscored.