An outspoken Russian lawmaker who used offensive language in relation to a senior U.S. diplomat said on Friday he had been provoked by Georgian reporters, but would not withdraw his remarks, RIA Novosti reported.
Online editions posted on Thursday Sergei Abeltsev`s interview, in which he lavishly used obscene words advising U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon to change his family name to a more resonant one - Condom, a word often used in Russian as a strong insult.
In the interview with Georgian television channel Rustavi-2, he also advised Gordon, who visited the South Caucasus earlier this month, give up politics and run a sex shop at the White House.
"Georgian television journalists provoked me to make an emotional statement," Abeltsev told RIA Novosti.
The lawmaker, who is a member of the ultranationalist LDPR party, said the reporters quoted Gordon as saying that despite Russia`s efforts, South Ossetia and Abkhazia would never enjoy independence from Georgia, and ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine would join NATO.
"I am a former military officer and cannot allow anyone to talk to us in such a manner and ignore our interests," he said.
The lawmaker said the Georgian channel showed only part of the interview and the statement "was taken out of context," calling it a dirty trick.
He said, however that he would not back down on his words and was prepared to explain himself to the State Duma`s parliamentary ethics commission.
Abeltsev once publicly suggested killing former atomic energy minister Yevgeny Adamov to prevent him disclosing state secrets in a Swiss jail, and he has physically assaulted fellow lawmakers in the lower house of parliament.