Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin allegedly threatened to hang Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili "by the balls" during the August war in Georgia.
MOSCOW: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin allegedly threatened to hang Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili "by the balls" during the August war in Georgia, a report not denied by Putin's spokesman said on Friday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's diplomatic aide Jean-David Levitte earlier told Le Nouvel Observateur magazine that Putin had told Sarkozy in a meeting: "Saakashvili, I'm going to make him hang by the balls."
"Vladimir Putin did use strong language," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP, refusing to deny the report. He also called the report "provocative" and said its publication was" difficult to understand."
Putin is known for his colourful and often very crude turns of phrase.
Referring to Chechen separatist rebels, he once threatened to "waste them in the outhouse." He also once extended an ironic invitation to a journalist to "become an Islamic radical" and get circumcised in Moscow.
The threat came as Putin revealed his plans for disposing of President Saakashvili when Sarkozy was in Moscow on August 12 to broker a peace deal following Russia's invasion of Georgia.
Jean-David Levitte, Sarkozy's chief diplomatic adviser, reported the exchange in an interview with the magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. According to Levitte, the Russian strongman seemed unconcerned by international reaction. "I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls," Putin declared.
When Sarkozy expressed shock at the threat, Putin said: "Why not? The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein."
However, Putin was briefly lost for words when Sarkozy replied: "Yes, but do you want to end up like Bush?" "Ah, you have scored a point there," Putin conceded.
Saakashvili, who was in Paris to meet Sarkozy on Thursday ahead of an EU-Russia summit laughed nervously when he came to know of the exchange.
"I knew about this scene, but not all the details. Its funny, all the same," he was quoted as saying by the Times newspaper on Friday.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}