Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary to the President of Russia, shared on Saturday, May 16th, that he was compelled to study the Turkish language during his time at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University. This assignment was reportedly a consequence of his subpar performance during the entrance examinations.
“Even on the second attempt, I did not achieve the required score to earn the right to choose my own language. Yes, I wanted to study Arabic. And I was forcibly assigned Turkish as a form of punishment for my low results,” Peskov told a correspondent from Channel One.
The Kremlin representative further stated that his perspective on the language later shifted. After several years of work and deepening his knowledge in the field of Turkology, he concluded that his acquired experience had been immensely valuable, as reported by the Channel One website.
On September 7, 2025, Alexander Yunashev, a journalist from the Kremlin pool, released footage showing Dmitry Peskov conversing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkish. Notably, the Turkish president inquired about the Russian Presidential Spokesperson’s well-being.