Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied having any links to offshore accounts and described the Panama Papers document-leaks scandal as part of Western attempts to undermine Moscow.
Speaking on April 7 at a media forum in St. Petersburg, Putin described the documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm as part of a Western disinformation campaign.
"Our opponents are above all concerned by the unity and consolidation of the Russian nation, our multinational Russian people. They are attempting to rock us from within, to make us more obedient," he said, in his first comments over the scandal.
Some 11.5 million documents were leaked from the Mossack Fonseca law firm, which specializes in making offshore arrangements for the world's rich and famous.
Putin was not specifically named in any of the leaked documents, but some of his friends and associates were.
Putin rejected that his longtime friend, cellist Sergei Roldugin, who figured in the Panama Papers as the owner of $2 billion in offshore assets, was involved in any wrongdoing.
