Kremlin says it wants apology from Fox News over Putin comments

REUTERS

 

FILE PHOTO: Russia's President Vladimir Putin makes his annual New Year address to the nation in Moscow, Russia, December 31, 2016. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were "unacceptable" comments one of the channel's presenters made about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

 

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly described Putin as "a killer" in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O'Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed.

 

"We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

 

O'Reilly dismissed the Kremlin's call for an apology.

 

"I'm working on that apology but it may take a little time," he said on Fox News late on Monday. "You might want to check in with me around ... 2023."

 

Fox News is a top-rated U.S. cable news network owned by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc <FOXA.O>.

 

Trump's views on Putin are closely scrutinised in the United States, where U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Moscow of having sponsored computer hacking to help Trump win office, and critics say he is too complimentary about the Russian leader.

 

Trump, when commenting on the allegations against Putin in the same interview, questioned how "innocent" the United States itself was, saying it had made a lot of its own mistakes. That irritated some congressional Republicans who said there was no comparison between how Russian and U.S. politicians behaved.

 

Asked in an interview on Sunday to clarify those comments, Trump told Westwood One Sports Radio: "Well, I don't have to clarify it. The question was do you respect him -- he's a head of a major country."

 

Putin, in his 17th year of dominating the Russian political landscape, is accused by some Kremlin critics of ordering the killing of opponents. Putin and the Kremlin have repeatedly rejected those allegations as politically motivated and false.

 

Trump, who has said he wants to try to mend battered U.S.-Russia ties and hopes he can get along with Putin, was asked a question about some of those allegations by Fox Business before he won the White House.

 

In January last year, after a British judge ruled that Putin had "probably" authorised the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, Trump said he saw no evidence the Russian president was guilty.

 

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Osborn; Additional reporting by Washington Newsroom; Editing by Alan Crosby and Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-07

"Sorry, i didn't mean to say you were a killer. I meant to say you are an egotistical murdering psychopath. Please accept my sincerest apology for the misunderstanding."

Those who publicly oppose Putin tend to end up dead.  It's a looooong list....

3 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Those who publicly oppose Putin tend to end up dead.  It's a looooong list....

Well, I for one, won't miss Mr. O'Reilly, although I hope when Trump gets rid of him, it's quick.   I don't like him, but I don't want to see him suffer.   

An embarrassment for the left when its the Fox that turns up with the balls.

What strikes me as being curious is that they went after Fox but not Trump who accepted the premise of the question. Maybe the Kremlin doesn't want to embarrass its employee?

Why honour Fox news by taking any notice of it let alone taking offence. Trumps response was predictable, give him a chance to open his mouth and he will put his foot in it.

Does this mean that Putin is still with the Kremlin as well as being the country's leader?

  Or is he a puppet to the Kremlin.

1 minute ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Does this mean that Putin is still with the Kremlin as well as being the country's leader?

  Or is he a puppet to the Kremlin.

Putin is basically a dictator.  He runs/controls everything.  And use to be a KGB agent, rising up from there to become president/dictator.

".. we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company,..." Fox? Now wait just a minute here. You must be thinking of a different company.

I look forward to Putin's lawsuit against Fox and O'Reilly for defamation. Please Putin come to America to testify.

But most probably Trump himself will make a private apology to Putin so that Trump can protect Putin's respect for Trump.

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Fox News is a top-rated U.S. cable news network

Kind of scary isn't it. 

Putin would never soil his hands or stoop so low as to kill somebody. He has lots of minions to do it for him. 

Killing the bad guys is not killing, just making space ...

Edited February 7, 20179 yr by Jack Mountain

surely this gives credibility to faux news!

 

With another of Putin's opponents in coma now seems bad timing for an apology.

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Where do we start; Malaysian Flight shot down by Russian BUK missile system two years ago, how many innocent poor souls perished on that, could not have happened without his nod.

6 hours ago, Lokie said:

Where do we start; Malaysian Flight shot down by Russian BUK missile system two years ago, how many innocent poor souls perished on that, could not have happened without his nod.

I'd be astounded if Putin knowingly consented to the Malaysian airliner being shot down.  You'd do better to accuse him of fomenting a conflict with the Ukrainian government - that conflict has cost the lives of Ukrainian nationals, of both Little and Great Russian ethnicities.

 

10 hours ago, stevenl said:

With another of Putin's opponents in coma now seems bad timing for an apology.

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Here's a list of his now departed critics:

http://news.sky.com/story/the-putin-critics-who-have-been-assassinated-10369350

 

Quote

 

The Putin Critics Who Have Been Assassinated

Boris Nemtsov is the latest in a long line of opposition figures who have died under suspicious circumstances in recent years.

 

 

I believe a few more were added recently due to the leaks about Trump.

On 2/7/2017 at 11:10 AM, craigt3365 said:

Those who publicly oppose Putin tend to end up dead.  It's a looooong list....

nearly as long as the Clinton list? 

43 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

nearly as long as the Clinton list? 

Can you show me the list or are you just trolling?

11 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Can you show me the list or are you just trolling?

Since the topic here is The Kremlin and Fox, he is clearly trolling.

1 hour ago, mrwebb8825 said:

nearly as long as the Clinton list? 

The tally of the orange illiterate freak is 30 sofar (of which 10 were women and children, and one US soldier), and he managed that in only 3 weeks! Where is your BS list with proof?

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/38919886?client=safari

 

Can we get an apology from Trump for threatening us with Blackjack supersonic strategic bombers? The Typhoons should have just shot them down.

Off-topic post removed.