Ketchum Lands Contract To Polish Russia's Image

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The Russian government has signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Washington office of the PR company Ketchum and its Brussels-based sibling, GPlus Europe. The Financial Times reports that the contract is "to improve the presentation of Russia's presidency of the Group of Eight leading nations." Last week, U.S. Republican Senator from Arizona, John McCain, criticized the decision in January by the Russian government controlled company, Gazprom, to cut off gas supplies to the Ukraine. The deputy press attaché to Mr Putin, Dmitry Peskov, told the Financial Times that Russia's 12-month presidency stint of the G8 "didn't get off to a good start on the communications front." "Perhaps if we had already been working then with some kind of communications company things would have been different," he said.