Kremlin spokesman on CEC warning: I present my apologies

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov apologized after being warned by the Central Election Commission for an electioneering statement in Vladimir Putin’s favor.

"I present my apologies for the statements that might have been interpreted as electioneering," he said.

The spokesman also promised to be more cautious throughout the election campaign and to avoid anything of the kind in the future. "Naturally, from this moment on, for the period I will be more cautious so as not to create pretexts for such warnings," TASS cited him as saying.

Peskov stressed that the affair by no means concerned the coverage of Putin’s activities as Russia’s incumbent president, adding that he declared he had taken the CEC’s warning into account and acknowledged that during the election period priority should be attached not to his own opinion of what he was saying, but the opinion of the CEC, "which is the top body responsible for arranging the presidential election."

Earlier, CEC chief Ella Pamfilova warned Peskov it was impermissible to make any statements that might look like electioneering. She stated that on January 29 a number of mass media cited Peskov’s remark about Putin that bore "clear traces of campaigning."