Putin announced that the Panama papers were leaked by Goldman Sachs. Apparently, the CIA story has been dropped, and now Goldman Sachs is the new bugbear. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper is owned by Goldman, Putin said, so Goldman must be behind the leak.
Of course, like all of Putin’s lies, this one is quite clumsy. Süddeutsche Zeitung is not owned by Goldman Sachs, which became very clear very soon.
As a result, Putin’s press secretary has had to make a public apology for this lie. And that’s quite unprecedented. Putin has accused many a Western leader of a number of egregious things and never had to issue an apology. An insult to Goldman, on the other hand, has him apologizing immediately.
This is the first time in my memory that Putin shows concern over the reception the words he says to his voters get outside of the country.
Clarissa's Blog 