Dmitry Peskov explained why Vladimir Putin does not say Alexei Navalny’s name At a press conference at the Kommersant publishing house, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov explained why Vladimir Putin does not refer to opposition figure Alexei Navalny by name. “Politically, Putin is beyond competition in this country; if he were to say Navalny’s name, he would be giving him a share of his popularity,” Mr. Peskov explained. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.kommersant.ru/news/2309150 THE KOMMERSANT*** PUBLISHING HOUSE ANNULLED THE STORY ABOUT WHY PUTIN DOES NOT SAY NAVALNY’S NAME L**ate in the evening on September 30, Interfax reported that it had withdrawn its item containing comments by Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov about Vladimir Putin’s attitude toward Alexei Navalny. As the news agency clarified, this was done at the request of the Kommersant publishing house, whose website post had been the source for the report. *http://tvrain.ru/articles/id_kommersant_annuliroval_novost_o_tom_pochemu_putin_ne_proiznosit_imja_navalnogo-353423/ I’ve always said that Putin and his gang are hellish pagans. Now we await the news that Putin is kissing a sturgeon so that the Tsar-Fish (a folkloric “king of fish”) will pass on some of its grandeur to him. And then the withdrawal of that story too, with the explanation that publicizing such Putinian aims in the media would anger Father Sturgeon, and in general, his totemic name must not be used in news reports—as was authoritatively declared by Mansi shamans, whose words were conveyed to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin by Sergei Semyonovich Sobyanin during the most recent service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.