The Kremlin has dismissed a report by opposition leader Aleksei Navalny that leveled corruption allegations against Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, calling it a "creative work" and suggesting it was a campaign ploy.
In an investigative report released online on March 2, Navalny accused Medvedev of using charities and NGOs to collect donations from tycoons and state banks and using the funds to buy luxury homes, yachts, property abroad, and other assets.
"This is not the first example of the creative work of this well-known convict," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on March 3.
Navalny has been convicted of financial crimes in two trials he says were politically motivated punishment for his opposition to Putin.
Peskov said that Kremlin officials had seen the report but not delved into the details, and that he had "nothing to add" to what Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said about it.
On March 2, Timakova called the report a "propaganda attack" and said Navalny seemed to be "conducting some kind of election campaign."
Navalny announced in December that he will run for president in March 2018, but Russian authorities say he will be barred from public office if the latest verdict against him is upheld on appeal.