Putin to Keep Personal Details About Panama Papers-Listed Musician Private

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin does not intend to reveal anything regarding the personal life of musician Sergei Roldugin, listed in the Panama Papers leak, who has not done anything illegal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

On Sunday, Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung published materials it claimed came from the Panamanian Mossack Fonseca company, exposing alleged involvement of a number of world leaders and their circles in tax havens schemes. Some individuals, including Roldugin, who had been reportedly close to Putin, were mentioned in the report.

"The president has quite fully expressed his position to this entire story and has given his opinion of Roldugin. Of course, I do not think that anyone, himself in particular, would want to reveal details regarding his personal life and his purchases, as it is an absolutely personal matter that concerns only Roldugin as long as it complies with our laws," Peskov told reporters.

On Thursday, Putin, who is a close friend of Roldugin, said that the musician used his own money to promote Russian culture abroad, as well as acquiring expensive musical instruments abroad.

The president stressed that Roldugin was a minority shareholder in a company and tried doing business, but has never earned the billions of dollars attributed to him by the alleged Mossack Fonseca documents.