Peskov commented on the investigation into Medvedev’s real estate

In an interview with ABC News, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on an investigation by Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) into real estate allegedly used by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The transcript of the interview is published on the channel's website.

Journalist George Stephanopoulos asked Peskov how Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev could afford "yachts, mansions and villas" "on the state salary" that the official owns, according to FBK.

Peskov stressed that all civil servants declare their income and report to the special services.

“We all – those who work for the state – file income declarations every year. They are checked by special bodies that exercise double control. Therefore, those populist accusations that we sometimes see in the press from various activists are not true, because they [the activists] simply do not have the information that is available to the special services,” the presidential press secretary replied.

Peskov also commented on the anti-corruption rallies held in the country. According to him, corruption is an urgent problem for Russia, which needs to be fought.

“Society is completely intolerant of this. So yes, a week ago we saw protests in different cities of our country. In some it was organized legally, in others, like in Moscow, it was done illegally. They [the organizers of the protest] did not want to legally notify the mayor's office, so the actions in Moscow were illegal,” he said.

Earlier, Peskov called calls to go to an anti-corruption rally on March 26 a provocation.

“We know that a number of people are calling for people to take to the streets. It is illegal. These are illegal calls, and this is actually nothing more than a provocation,” he said.

At the same time, he said that the Kremlin was "obviously watching" the upcoming protests.

Rallies against corruption took place across the country after the FBK published an investigation into the alleged "secret empire" of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. It said that Medvedev's classmates allegedly have estates and yachts, which the prime minister allegedly uses.