MOSCOW - A Russian state-run radio station mistakenly sparked speculation that the pen Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen spinning over documents during a meeting last month was made by the Japanese company Pentel.
Following a meeting with Veronika Skvortsova, head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency, on Aug. 27, a Kremlin correspondent for Radio Mayak posted on a messaging app that "Japan's Pentel pens spin well."
In a written response to Kyodo News, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm or deny whether the pen in question was a Pentel product, simply saying that Putin uses a range of pens.
Astrum Corp., the Tokyo-based company that operates the Pentel brand, said that the pen in the video was not their product after analyzing the footage.
The Kremlin correspondent "may have posted it was a Pentel as Putin has long favored Pentel pens," the company added.
In Russia, online reports spread in 2019 that Putin regularly used Pentel pens based on logos and other details of pens seen in official duties, leading the public to surmise that "the country's leader values practicality over luxury."
Astrum said the pen identified at the time was discontinued several years ago.
The pen Putin spun over documents during his meeting with Skvortsova resembled a product made by Tokyo-based stationery company Zebra Co., but the company said it could not confirm as such based on the footage alone.
