MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin watches foreign TV channels in a bid to maintain his knowledge of German and English, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview Tuesday, adding that he also attends short English courses several times a week.

"He watches German TV channels, watches channels in English. Not every day, but he does English several times a week. These are short courses, but regular ones," Peskov said.

Speaking about the president’s hobby, Peskov disclosed that "his main hobby is reading; mainly, it is historic literature, memoirs."

Besides, the spokesman added, Putin receives newspapers.

"They arrive both in the Kremlin and the Novo-Ogaryovo residence. He always has them on a plane, whenever he flies anywhere. So he looks through them quite often. Besides, he also receives press digests," Peskov said.

He refrained from speaking about Putin’s pets, saying "they are much less in the public eye now, so I would rather not speak about them." He recalled that one of Putin’s favorite dogs, Labrador Retriever Konni "unfortunately, has long since passed away as time goes on." He noted that pets "of course, remain in the president’s life."

When asked whether these are cats or dogs, Peskov said: "I never saw cats at Putin's place. I saw dogs, but never cats."