Lifting of freeze from death penalty not on agenda — Kremlin Spokesman

The question of lifting the freeze from the death penalty is not on Russia’s agenda, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Thursday.

“The Kremlin has not changed its mind on this score,” Peskov said in reply to a corresponding question. “This question is not on the Kremlin’s agenda. We are not discussing it.”

As Peskov explained, “the de facto situation does not change in any way – it remains [the same] de facto and de jure.”

Earlier, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, chairman of the State Duma’s committee on international affairs, Leonid Slutsky, told TASS in an interview that, in his opinion, the attitude of the people should be taken into account in deciding if the death penalty moratorium should be revised. He speculated it might be possible to put this issue to the vote in a referendum, if there was a corresponding demand from society.