Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that he will not pass on Russian film director Andrey Zvyagintsev's anti-war message to President Vladimir Putin.
Zvyagintsev used his acceptance speech for the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious runner-up Grand Prix award this weekend to denounce the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Addressing Putin directly, the director called him the "only person" capable of ending the war.
Asked Monday whether the director's message had been or would be relayed to the Russian leader, Peskov flatly rejected the idea.
"I, for one, will not do it," Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing. "I do not think that anyone else will do it."
Peskov said Zvyagintsev did "not have the right" to issue anti-war statements since he apparently has not condemned Ukrainian attacks on the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which Russia says it annexed in September 2022.
