OREANDA-NEWS. The German government's commissioner for inter-social cooperation with Russia, Johann Saathoff, demanded, that Moscow clarify the allegations of corruption against President Vladimir Putin. He said this in an interview with the newspaper «Saarbrücker Zeitung», published on Monday, January 25.

He is talking about the investigation of the Anti-Corruption Foundation about the «Putin's palace». «If the allegations are untrue, the Russian government can explain it to their citizens instead of to detain them», said Saathoff.

He noticed, that Putin has always called the fight against corruption his goal. Now there is a good opportunity to demonstrate this specifically, thinks the German government Commissioner for Russia. Saathoff also spoke in defense of the right to peaceful demonstrations and criticized the actions of police at a rally on January 23. At the same time, he opposed the introduction of new sanctions against Russia. «The rupture of economic relations does not solve the problem», said Sadoff. He also rejected demands to stop the «Nord Stream 2» project because of the arrest of Alexei Navalny, as these events «not related to each other in any way».