Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied information that mandatory financing of military operations in Ukraine was discussed at a closed meeting between President Vladimir Putin and representatives of Russian business. His words were quoted by the BBC.
The reason for the comment was a publication by The Bell, according to which the idea of business making contributions to the so-called "special military operation" was discussed at the meeting, with the initiative coming from the head of "Rosneft" Igor Sechin.
"This is not true - neither that the initiative came from Sechin, nor that there was talk of financing the SVO, nor that Putin made such a request", said Peskov.
According to him, during the meeting, one of the participants himself proposed to allocate "a very significant amount" in favor of the state, emphasizing that this was a personal decision motivated by a sense of duty.
"The argument was that many of those present started their business in the 1990s with the support of the state and today consider it their duty to make such contributions," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out. He added that the initiative did not come from the president, although he welcomed it.
Peskov declined to reveal the businessman's name, citing the closed nature of the meeting.
According to the publication by The Bell, the idea for financial contributions was proposed by Suleiman Kerimov, who promised about 100 billion rubles, and received support from other participants. At the same time, the Financial Times reported that billionaire Oleg Deripaska also responded to a similar call.