Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the state must react harshly and promptly to provocations of people's religious feelings, otherwise they will begin to defend themselves with unacceptable methods.

“We all must pay special attention and be very careful about religious feelings, and the religious feelings of people belonging to a wide variety of faiths,” Interfax quotes Putin .

According to Putin, if the state does not respond promptly and harshly to provocations against people’s religious feelings, then “then offended, insulted and humiliated, they themselves begin to defend their views and interests.”

“Sometimes this takes on completely unacceptable forms and they act using unacceptable methods,” the president said.

Putin noted that he condemns the attack on the American embassy in Libya, which resulted in the death of US Ambassador to that country Christopher Stevens.

Russia condemns crimes against US diplomats in Libya and sympathizes with the families of the victims, he said. According to Putin, the lives of diplomats are protected by international conventions. “If someone does not recognize this, it means that these people generally place themselves not only outside the framework of the law, but also outside the framework of modern civilization,” he noted.

At the same time, the Russian leader expects that the attack on US diplomats in Libya will serve as an impetus for expanding cooperation of the world community in the fight against terrorism.

“I hope that this tragedy will push us all together to intensify the joint fight against extremism and terrorist threats,” Putin said, noting that this tragedy affects everyone, as Russia and Western countries are jointly fighting these phenomena.

It is worth noting that yesterday the second representative of the ruling tandem, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, noted that he considers it unproductive to keep in prison the members of the punk band Pussy Riot, who were sentenced to 2 years in prison for insulting the feelings of believers by performing an anti-Putin song in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Medvedev said that a suspended sentence would have been enough for the girls, noting that he was “sickened” by what they did, by their appearance and by the hysteria that arose around their punk prayer service.

The attack on the American consulate in Libya occurred on September 11. The US Embassy in Benghazi was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and burned down. The attack killed the US ambassador to Libya and three diplomatic mission employees.

The attack on the American embassy in Libya occurred after the release in the United States and demonstration on the Internet of the film “The Innocence of Muslims,” which, according to Muslims, insults the Prophet Muhammad. Attacks on American diplomatic missions also took place in Egypt, Yemen and a number of other Arab countries.

Putin called for a tough response to provocations against religion