Journalists can hardly provoke Putin with questions at press conference - Peskov
MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) - Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov believes that journalists will not be able to provoke President Vladimir Putin at his grand press conference on Thursday.
"I do not think there are journalists who can provoke the president. I believe that in this case, let us say, expert knowledge of the president in practically every area, the level of his preparedness in general and for the press conference in particular, and we know that he is preparing for such large-scale events very responsibly and very attentively, are probably the guarantee that someone will hardly be able to provoke him," Peskov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 (VGTRK) television channel.
Yet the most important thing is not this but what the president says in reply to all questions, including sharp questions "which journalists may have no opportunity to ask in the daily life," he said.
International issues will be broadly covered at the president's press conference, Peskov said.
"This is Syria, and Ukraine, and global affairs in general. Because this year has been rather unprecedented from the point of view of international activity. This year has been unprecedented from the point of view of Russia's involvement in international affairs, the involvement of our president in global processes," he said.
International affairs are now a priority subject, Peskov said. "I think that we will hear a sufficient number of serious questions about that at the president's press conference," the Kremlin press secretary said.
He also said that many Turkish media outlets had asked Putin for an interview but the president's opinion "had already been expressed in detail and substantiated." "Those were very serious statements of our chief of state which had in principle been reflected, and there was no need for such an interview," Peskov said.
He added that Turkish journalists had been accredited to the press conference.