MOSCOW (AP) -- Reveling in his reputation for earthy language, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin unabashedly confirmed a crude outburst against Georgia's president and even took the tirade a step further Thursday.
The French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur reported last month that Putin told French President Nicolas Sarkozy that he would hang Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili by the testicles. The remark came during the August war between Russia and Georgia.
In a televised question-and-answer session with Russian citizens, a caller asked Putin whether he would like to see Saakashvili ”hanged by one of his body parts.”
”Why by just one part?” Putin responded with a grin.
He went to accuse the Georgian president of setting off a bloodbath by attacking the Russian-supported breakaway province of South Ossetia.
Putin’s use of salty language has become part of his mystique, pleasing some Russians while causing consternation in the West.
He once vowed to hunt Chechen rebels down and ”rub them out in the outhouse” if necessary. He has also warned Western countries to keep their ”snotty noses” out of Russia’s business.
A personal animus between Putin and Saakashvili is believed to have contributed to increasing tension that erupted into war between Russia and Georgia in August.
Responding to reports of Putin’s remarks in the Sarkozy meeting, Saakashvili fired back at the Russians last week by saying ”they wouldn’t have enough rope.”
