MOSCOW (AP) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been hospitalized with the coronavirus, the latest in a series of setbacks for President Vladimir Putin as Russia struggles to contain the growing outbreak.
“Yes, I’ve gotten sick. I’m being treated,” Peskov, a key Putin aide, told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday.
Also infected was Peskov’s wife, Olympic ice dancing champion Tatyana Navka. She told reporters that Peskov’s condition was “satisfactory” and that the couple decided to enter the hospital so as not to expose the rest of their family.
“He brought it (the virus) from work,” Navka was quoted as saying by the Daily Storm online outlet.
Peskov, 52, has been Putin’s spokesman since 2008 but began working him with in the early 2000s.