“Is it possible to forgive it and pardon it later, this is a matter of the next stage” - Putin about the case of Ivan Safronov

Journalist Andrei Kolesnikov asked Vladimir Putin the question of whether the president managed to find out the details of the case of Ivan Safronov, how he was going. “What sources did Safronov take information, and wasn't it too easy and often began to apply this article about the Stateizer?” - asked Kolesnikov.

“From what sources he took information, the investigation will figure out. He is judged not for journalistic activities. He is not some dissenting journalist who is fighting the authorities, and he was confiring him. The charge is not connected with his journalistic activity. It is associated with a fairly long period of work as an assistant to Rogozin.

You said that he could stumble, for this you can forgive, but you need to look at how really the harm he did. The greatest sin is betrayal, the delivery of closed information to foreign special services is betrayal. If he deliberately collected information and handed it over to foreign special services, the court should figure out this.

Is it possible to forgive it and have mercy later, this is a matter of the next stage, to talk about it prematurely, ”Putin said.