YEREVAAN, JULY 9, ARMENPRESS. Out of respect for the Georgian people, there is no need to impose sanctions on Tbilisi, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on July 9, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS.

"As for imposing sanctions against Georgia, I wouldn’t do it out of respect for the Georgian people," he noted. "For the sake of these people and for the sake of restoring full-fledged relations between Russia and Georgia, I wouldn’t do anything that would complicate the relations," the Russian leader emphasized. "One of them went and blurted something out, pretending to be someone, though no one had heard about him before and now everyone is talking about him so he has achieved his goal. He has been suspended from work for two months, he may go for a vacation and return to his activities later. However, there are people in Georgia who are protesting against all that," Putin added.

Commenting on the initiative put forward by Russian parliamentarians, Putin said that Georgian journalist Giorgi Gabunia, who insulted the Russian president earlier, "does not deserve the honor" of having a criminal case opened against him. "[People] like him do not deserve the honor of launching a criminal case against them," the Russian president said. "Let him continue broadcasting."

"In modern Georgia, the anti-Russian rallies are provoked by people who either do not know anything or know [something] and ignore it, in the end irreversibly damaging Georgia itself," the Russian leader stated.

He recalled that back in the day he was trying to convince Mikheil Saakashvili "to prevent any military actions against Abkhazia or South Ossetia under any circumstances." "I was saying the same to Americans, yes, under no circumstances. And what did they do? But no, they went there with war and the result is well-known now. Russia was just forced to recognize the independence of these two republics and protect the people of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the Russian leader said.

In a Sunday show, a host at Georgia’s Rustavi-2 TV channel used foul language to scold the Russian leadership for more than a minute. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze, former Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze and ex-Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze strongly condemned those remarks. In addition, the TV host’s rant received backlash from a vast number of Georgian Facebook users. The TV host has been suspended from work for two months.