MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has redirected a question as to whether the fact that yesterday's court hearing, at which the judge was considering Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny's arrest, took place in a room at the Khimki police department in which a portrait of Genrikh Yagoda, who was in charge of the Stalin-era Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) in the 1930s, was hanging on the wall triggers any negative associations.
Journalists asked Peskov on Tuesday what the president thinks of the situation as concerns the court hearing proceedings on Navalny's arrest under Yagoda's portrait. "I don't think the president knows what portraits are hanging in what rooms in Khimki or anywhere else in Russia," Peskov said.
"If you take an interest in associative issues related to particular portraits on the walls of police departments, you can ask my colleagues in the Interior Ministry. This isn't a question to ask us, for sure," he said.
Peskov said no when asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had seen the pictures taken during the court session at the Khimki police station.
Reporters also drew Peskov's attention to the news that Rosatom is planning to install a statue to honor another Stalinist head of the then Soviet Interior Ministry, Lavrenty Beria, at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow. "It is beyond any doubt that that should be asked about, and it is your prerogative to do so. You have Rosatom's contact information; you have the coordinates of the police. I think many people will be interested in that. It's your prerogative to ask and get an answer," Peskov said.