Putin speaks against anti-Georgian sanctions 'out of respect for Georgian people'
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke against the imposition of sanctions against Georgia, which were proposed by Russian parliamentarians, reports Interfax news agency.
"To fully restore our relations, I wouldn't do anything to complicate them. Speaking about various kinds of sanctions against Georgia - I wouldn't impose them out of respect for the Georgian people," Putin said.
He also spoke against the initiation of the criminal process against Georgian journalist George Gabunia, who insulted him. "Too much honor. That would be too much honor to start a criminal process against this man. He can speak whatever he wants to," - said Putin.
The Russian President also said that "all these scandalous statements addressed to him in Georgia are because of the policy based on the desire to undermine relations with Russia and the unwillingness to remember the history of relations between Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia."
"One man said something, pretending to be someone. No one spoke about this man before, no one knew him, but now everyone is speaking about him. In this sense, he achieved his goal. Yes, he was suspended from work, he went on vacation, but when this journalist returns – he will continue to work," Putin said.
On Tuesday, the Russian State Duma adopted a draft bill "On possible additional economic measures in connection with anti-Russian provocations in Georgia" calling on the government to impose sanctions against Georgia. On Monday, the Chairman of the State Duma said that the deputies propose to ban the import of wine and soda water from Georgia, as well as money transfers from Russia to Georgia.
On Sunday evening, the host of the Georgian TV channel Rustavi 2 George Gabunia in his program PostScript appealed to Putin and insulted him. After that, the TV channel suspended Gabunia.