At a press conference on February 1, 2007 Putin was asked for his opinion on homosexuality in the midst of a controversy over the decision by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov to ban a gay rights parade in Moscow. Putin said: "My approach toward gay parades and sexual minorities is very simple. It is directly linked to my responsibilities. One of the key problems of our country is the demographic problem." After the audience burst out in laughter, Putin added, "I respect the freedom of people in all respects."[285][286]
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Putin on Chechen extremists, on September 24, 1999: "We'll follow terrorists everywhere. We will corner the bandits in the toilet and beat the hell out of them." ("We'll blast them out, even in the ****-house")(" " in Russian slang, "wet (cap) them in the toilet"):[3]
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In reply to criticism from a French journalist about the war in Chechnya at the Russia-EU summit in Brussels in 2002, Putin said: "If you want to completely become an Islamic radical and are ready to have a circumcision, then I invite you to Moscow. We have a multi-cultural country and have specialists even on this issue. And I will recommend him to perform this surgery in such a way so that nothing would grow out of you again."[8]
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On October 19, 2006, Putin was quoted as saying to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel about Israeli President Moshe Katsav, "Say hello to your president. He really surprised us... turned out to be quite a mighty man. He raped 10 women. I never expected it from him. He surprised all of us. We all envy him."[11] In a call-in television program Putin did not deny making the comment but said that "using instruments such as protecting womens rights to resolve political issues that are unconnected with this problem is absolutely inadmissible. And this is because it actually discredits the struggle for womens rights". He also criticized the press 'eavesdropping' on his conversation with Olmert as 'unseemly'.[12]
