Rome, Oct. 23 (Reuters): Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised hackles in Italy by saying the country has no right to lecture him on organised crime as it is itself the original home of the mafia.

The comment, which diplomats said Putin made at a EU summit in Finland on Friday, was published by most of Italy’s newspapers today and prompted Prime Minister Romano Prodi to issue a statement playing it down. “The only phrase which could be considered critical of our country was an ironic phrase which sounded something like ‘mafia isn’t a Russian word’,” Prodi’s spokesman Silvio Sircana said.

But foreign minister Massimo D’Alema had a stronger reaction. “I have the impression that President Putin uses robust language in various areas which, surely, does not help his prestige as a statesman,” he said. According to the diplomats, Putin was being tackled on corruption issues when he hit back with the jibe, also saying that Moscow had nothing to learn on the subject from Spain where local mayors are implicated in bribery scandals.

Spain’s Socialist government launched a crackdown on town hall corruption today but there was no suggestion the move was linked to Putin’s comments. Both Prodi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero were at the dinner when Putin made his remarks.