Putin pen mix-up puts Japan's Pentel in spotlight

MOSCOW - A Russian state-run radio correspondent identified a pen Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen spinning over documents during a meeting last month as a Pentel product, but despite the unexpected publicity, the company operating the Japanese stationery brand said the pen in question was not one of theirs.

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."