MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday slammed what he called provocations in the worldwide row over the blasphemous cartoons, calling on editors to ‘think 100 times’ before publishing such pictures.
“I think that any provocation in this area is absolutely unacceptable. Before publishing something, doing something or drawing, you need to think 100 times.”
Mr Putin, speaking in an interview with Spanish media that was published on the Kremlin website, criticised both opponents and backers of the cartoons.
“We condemn any display of that kind on both sides,” Mr Putin said. “We condemn caricatures of that kind that create further divisions between religions, that insult the feelings of believers (and) provoke them.”
“We very much hope that Muslim religious figures and leaders of the Muslim world will manage to get the situation under control.” —AFP
