Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other political figures received by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kremlin were puzzled when Putin said that everyone in Russia envied President Moshe Katsav’s might which allowed the latter to rape ten women, a Russian and an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.

Russian newspaper Kommersant ran an article on Putin-Olmert meeting on the front page. The text was written by Kommersant journalist from the Kremlin pool known for his mocking style rather than analysis.

The author claims that after the meeting, as most of reporters already left the hall, Putin told the Israeli delegation: “Say hi to your president. He turned out to be quite a powerful person! He raped ten women! We’re all amazed. We all envy him!” The reporter said that the Russian President apparently thought the microphones were switched off while they were not.

Israel’s Jerusalem Post ran a slightly different version of the story. According to their report, Putin said “He surprised us,” and the sound was shut off. The newspaper quoted an unnamed official who heard the rest of the exchange as saying that Putin jokingly praised Katsav. “We didn’t know he could deal with 10 women,” were Putin’s words according to the Jerusalem Post. To which Olmert reportedly replied, “I wouldn’t be jealous of him.”

Tel Aviv- The public prosecutor’s office in Jerusalem is preparing the indictment to be submitted against Israeli President Moshe Katsav, local media reported Tuesday. The draft indictment will likely be presented within two weeks, reports said. Following a lengthy probe into charges that he sexually harassed several former females employees, Israeli police investigators recommended that Katsav, 60, be indicted for rape, molestation and wiretapping.

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