New Delhi, Oct. 25 -- stop looking east for the cause of the unrest in your own streets. The Russian president said on Sunday that accusing Moscow of inciting the mass protests and riots in French and Italian cities is "clearly going too far," a claim he said ordinary Europeans can see through for themselves.

Putin made the remarks to Russian state television journalist Pavel Zarubin. "My first reaction upon seeing this was surprise," he said. "To suggest that we are provoking mass protests in major European cities, well, that is clearly going too far, it's something that, in my view, is obvious to the ordinary citizens of European countries."

He then turned the charge back on those making it. Putin said the accusations speak to "the we...