You're reading: Kremlin says Barroso quoting Putin inappropriate

Moscow - If European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso indeed quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin at a European Council meeting, this is outside the framework of diplomatic practice, the Kremlin said.

“This is inappropriate and this is outside the framework of the diplomatic practice, if this was done. It appears to me to be simply unworthy a serious political figure,” Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told Interfax when asked to comment on the report of Italian newspaper La Repubblica saying that at the European Council meeting on Aug. 30 Barroso quoted Putin following the talks with the Russian president on the alleged possibility of seizing Kyiv.

Barroso said that when he asked Putin about Russian troops, who crossed the Ukrainian border, the Russian president switched to threats and said that this was not the issue and that if he wanted he would take Kyiv within two weeks, the newspaper reported.

“Whether these words were said or not, in my viewpoint, this quote given is taken out of context and it had absolutely different sense,” Ushakov said regarding the report.