Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, wanted to depose Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian leader, and hang him “by the balls” following Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August but was deterred by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.

That is the version of events related by Jean-David Levitte, Mr Sarkozy’s chief foreign policy adviser, to a French magazine on Thursday, an account that helps the French leader’s claim that he averted a Russian military dash to occupy Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.