(MENAFN) Kirill Dmitriev, a senior aide to the Russian president, has accused The Washington Post of “truth distortion” after the newspaper wrongly attributed a quote to him.

Dmitriev demanded a public apology from the news outlet for the misrepresentation.

The controversy arose in an article published on Saturday that discussed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s recent visit to the United States.

The piece suggested that a phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-US President Donald Trump had altered Washington’s position regarding the conflict in Ukraine.

The Washington Post referenced Dmitriev, attributing to him the statement: “Zelensky’s tour summed up in one sentence: Putin outmaneuvered everyone again.”

The article claimed Dmitriev made this remark on Telegram.

Reacting on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Dmitriev expressed his indignation over the misattribution.

He explained that he had merely shared the quote from another Telegram news channel and not originated it himself.

In his post, Dmitriev criticized The Washington Post sharply, calling it “another eye-opening case of truth distortion from the fake @washingtonpost.”

He compared the outlet’s error to blaming users for retweets, emphasizing that he was not the original source of the statement.

Dmitriev demanded that the newspaper promptly correct the attribution, issue a formal apology, and conduct an internal investigation into the matter.

Later the same day, The Washington Post released a correction acknowledging that their previous article had “incorrectly attributed” the quote to Dmitriev.

While Dmitriev thanked the publication on X for recognizing the mistake, he insisted that they publish a formal apology and include both the apology and the correction in the next print edition.

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