By Reuters April 17, 2026, 6:25:19 PM IST (Published)
2 Min Read
The Kremlin on Friday denied that President Vladimir Putin was insulated from bad news after a celebrity blogger accused unnamed senior officials of withholding the truth about Russia’s problems.
Viktoria Bonya, a social media influencer known in Russia for reality TV appearances, said this week she supported Putin and listed five issues she claimed officials were not honestly briefing him on. Her video was viewed more than 20 million times, received over 1.4 million likes, and drew more than 75,000 comments on Instagram.
Asked about Bonya’s suggestion that Putin, who has led Russia as president or prime minister since 1999, was not fully informed about the country’s difficulties, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the claim was incorrect.
“No. It is not so,” Peskov said. “Putin is the head of state, and his powers mean he deals with the widest range of issues on the agenda.”
On Thursday the Kremlin unusually acknowledged Bonya’s sharp criticism publicly, saying work had already begun to address several of the problems she identified.
After that response, Bonya posted a new video in which she wept with joy, thanked the Kremlin for paying attention to the issues she raised, and expressed her solidarity with the Russian people.