Kremlin apologizes to German paper for Putin's Goldman Sachs accusation

MOSCOW, April 16 (UPI) -- The Kremlin apologized for Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments that U.S.-based company Goldman Sachs was behind the release of the Panama Papers.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "a mistake of mine" linking the investment bank to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which broke the story about the massive document release.

"This is rather our mistake, a mistake of mine, of those who were preparing the reference papers on the issue," he said. "There really was unverified information concerning the owners of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, we didn't double-check and gave it to the president."

The rare apology came after Putin, speaking during his annual public question and answer session Thursday, said Goldman Sachs partially owns the newspaper.

"Who was the first to report it? Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which is part of an American holding, Goldman Sachs," he said at the time, according to NBC News.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung report linked Putin's associates, including longtime friend Russian cellist Sergei P. Roldugin, to the transfer of $2 billion to an offshore account.