page_title: Reactions to the Panama Papers
section_title: Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Reactions to the Panama Papers / Government reactions and investigations / Russia
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Орденом Дружбы награждён первый вице-президент Федерации дзюдо России Аркадий Ротенберг
context_section_description: The Süddeutsche Zeitung, which made the papers public, has described the connections of various individuals listed in the papers to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the newspaper, the release of the papers confirms the previous descriptions of Russia as a kleptocratic "Mafia state" run by Putin and his inner circle. Vladimir Putin does not appear in any of the records but the names of many of his associates do, such as construction billionaires Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, as well as the professional musician Sergei Roldugin and business magnate Alisher Usmanov. The papers also list billionaire Gennady Timchenko, Putin's press secretary's spouse, his cousin, Putin's former KGB colleagues, and several oligarchs as owning offshore shell companies. In 2011 Putin had criticized offshore companies as "unpatriotic".
  The documents leaked indicated that Sergei Roldugin, a professional cellist described by Novaya Gazeta as Vladimir Putin's best friend and the godfather of his eldest daughter, had acquired assets worth at least $100 million, including a 12.5% stake in Video International, Russia's largest television advertising firm. It was also revealed that Roldugin had acquired these assets in what the BBC described as "suspicious deals".
  Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Western mainstream media reporting of the Panama Papers was engaged in "Putinophobia". He said the primary target of the leak was Vladimir Putin and the Panama Papers were part of a conspiracy against Russia, orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Department of State and others.
  President Putin has denied "any element of corruption" over the Panama Papers leaks, saying his opponents are trying to destabilise Russia.
  Initially, aside from few independent outlets, Russian media entirely ignored the leak. Channel 1 and Rossiya 1, both state owned, did not mention the Panama Papers at all on April 4, when the story broke. When an opposition politician asked why the media was ignoring the story, Dmitry Kiselev, head of Rossiya Segodnya, refused to discuss or comment. To the extent that some coverage was given to the story it was often done in the middle of the night, and focused exclusively on international celebrities rather than the links to Putin's circles found in the papers. Coverage of the leak began to appear after Peskov's reaction, but generally focused on Peskov's comments rather than discussing the information in the Panama Papers.
caption: Russian President Vladimir Putin with Russian businessman and oligarch Arkady Rotenberg
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