Dmitry Peskov

Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov (Дмитрий Сергеевич Песков; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat and the press secretary for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Peskov was born in Moscow.

His father, Sergey, headed the Soviet diplomatic mission in Pakistan.

In 1989, Peskov graduated from the Institute of Asian and African Countries at the Moscow State University, specializing in History and Eastern studies.

In the same year, Peskov joined the Soviet Foreign Ministry.

In 1990, Peskov was appointed to the Soviet embassy in Ankara, Turkey, as an administrative assistant.

He subsequently filled the positions of attaché and then third secretary at the embassy.

In 1994, he was assigned to work in the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

After two years there, he was posted back to Ankara in 1996 with the diplomatic rank of second, and then first secretary at the Russian embassy.

In 2000, Peskov returned to Russia to work at the press service of the Russian president, serving in a number of positions, including a four-year term as the first deputy press secretary of the Russian president, from 2004 to 2008.

Peskov has served as Putin's spokesman since April 2000.

Peskov was named as prime minister Viktor Zubkov's press secretary on 25 April 2008, putting him in place to lead Vladimir Putin's press operations when he moved to the job of Prime Minister under Dmitry Medvedev's presidency.

During the 2011–2013 Russian protests in which riot police clubbed protestors, Peskov said that "protesters who hurt riot police should have their livers smeared on the asphalt", causing an outcry among opposition activists.

In May 2012, when Putin again became president, Peskov succeeded Natalya Timakova as the presidential spokesperson.

In January 2016, Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, sent an e-mail to Dmitry Peskov asking for help with a business deal in Moscow.

The Washington Post called this the "most direct outreach documented by a top Trump aide to a similarly senior member of Putin's government."

After initial difficulties in addressing the email Peskov's office replied by email and telephone.

Cohen denied this response when testifying to Congress but later said that he had lied, and the Moscow project had continued until at least June 2016.

He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.

In November 2021, Peskov denied allegations that Russia was preparing for a possible invasion of Ukraine.

In January 2022, Peskov accused the United States of "fomenting tensions" around Ukraine.

On 1 March 2022, during a conference call with reporters, Peskov did not want to comment on Russian military casualties.

He insisted "the Russian troops don't conduct any strikes against civilian infrastructure and residential areas".

Peskov denounced Russians who oppose the war as "traitors".

On 27 March 2022, in a conversation with Ryan Chilcote on PBS NewsHour, Peskov claimed the Russian military invading Ukraine was not targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, only military infrastructure, suggesting that Ukrainian cities such as Mariupol were destroyed by the Ukrainians themselves, and that murdered civilians of that city were killed by fellow "Nazi" Ukrainians; Chilcote observed "in all fairness, you know everyone outside of Russia has been watching hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage that has come out of the country showing widespread targeting of civilian infrastructure, apartment buildings, theaters, hospitals".

In the same interview, Peskov said on the usage of nuclear weapons: "... any outcome of the operation, of course, is not a reason for usage of a nuclear weapon. We have a security concept that very clearly states that only when there is a threat for existence of the state in our country, we can use and we will actually use nuclear weapons ... Existence of the state, and special military operation in Ukraine, they have nothing to do with each other. ... There was a part of [Putin's] statement warning different states not to interfere ... and I think that everyone understands what he meant. [.. No one is thinking about using, even about the idea of using nuclear weapons."

In early April 2022, he said that war against Ukraine was necessary because Ukraine had been an "anti-Russian center" since 2014.

Peskov denied that Russian soldiers were responsible for the Bucha massacre, saying the whole situation in Bucha was a "well-staged insinuation".

On 2 August 2022, Peskov said Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was leading to an "increase in tension" in the region and accused the United States of choosing "the path of confrontation", adding "We want to emphasise once again that we are absolutely in solidarity with China, its attitude towards the problem is understandable and absolutely justified."

On 13 September 2022, Peskov said there are no plans to announce a full or partial mobilization in Russia.

On 21 September 2022, Putin announced a partial military mobilization.

Peskov declined to deny reports that some anti-war protesters had been given draft papers.

He noted that the delivery of subpoenas to detainees does not contradict the law.

Nikolay Peskov, the son of Dmitry Peskov, told pranksters, who pretended to be recruitment officers, that he had no intention of going to war because he is "Mr. Peskov", and would solve the issue "on a different level".

On 30 September 2022, Russia claimed to have annexed four regions of Ukraine after contested referendums supposedly indicating that a vast majority of the population there wanted the regions to become Russian territory.

On 3 October 2022, Peskov said that the borders of two of the regions, namely Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, had not been determined yet, but Russia would "consult with the people who live in those regions".

On 26 October 2022, Peskov said, without providing evidence, that Ukraine was planning a terrorist sabotage act using a "dirty bomb"—or an explosive that contains radioactive waste material.

In November 2022, he denied that the Russian military was attacking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

According to Peskov, the Russian army only attacks targets that are directly or indirectly connected to military potential.

In early December 2022, Peskov denied that the Russian government was planning a new wave of mobilization.