"Under the current legislation, the Russian Interior Ministry's National Central Bureau of Interpol's information about the person of interest can be unveiled only with the consent of the initiator of the search," the Interior Ministry said, when asked whether it was searching for Smolenkov through Interpol.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry did not say who had initiated the search.
According to the Interior Ministry's database on wanted persons, Smolenkov is currently wanted as missing.
According to the CNN broadcaster, the United States allegedly extracted its informant who was close to the Russian government in 2017. Some media suggested that it might have been Smolenkov.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told reporters that the Kremlin does not know if Smolenkov worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, adding that it is up to the Russian special services to find this out. Peskov said that Smolenkov has worked at the presidential administration for several years but has not confirmed that Smolenkov used to have access to classified information.
