Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho (left)
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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President of Russia Meets Paulo Coelho
// Protocol
Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho topped off his tour of Russia by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday at his Novo-Ogarevo residence outside Moscow. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov thought he looked somewhat overwhelmed by his impressions.
The president entered the hall before the writer. I asked him if he had read any of his works.
“Yes,” Putin answered. “I read The Alchemist and The Fifth Mountain.”
“That's all?”
“I gave the others to my colleagues. Their titles were somehow alarming.”
“Did you like it?”
“It was fine,” the president answered, “Written in good language.”
When pressed, Putin admitted that he had just read the books, in preparation for that meeting.
“I won't torture you with my impressions of your books,” the president told the writer when they had sat down together. “The only thing I want to say is that your books are not so popular for nothing. There is something common between the souls of the Russian and Brazilian peoples, and as a result, your books go straight to the heart.”
Coelho had a funny-looking little ponytail.
The president said that he would like to make a trip through Russia like the one the writer just made. The writer replied, “Oh, meeting you is the culmination of my trip through Russia. As a result, I was able to concentrate on direct contact with the Russian people and especially the Russian soul! I found a soul close to the Brazilian soul.”
He said that his trip through the heart of Russia was something that he had dreamed of since 1982. “The only place I didn't visit was St. Petersburg,” Coelho added.
“Find the time and come,” the president urged. “The end of May and beginning of June is the prettiest time in St. Petersburg. I know that part of Russia better than where you were. I know you liked the Baikal.”
The president was probably working up to a mention of how he saved the lake, but the writer replied, “I liked the river very much. I always wanted to swim in it.”
“Did you do it?!” the president asked.
“Yes!” Coelho exclaimed with glee. “It was cold – four degrees – but I felt that I had plunged into the heart of Russia!”
“Brazilians are hearty people,” the president nodded. “Not all Russians have that much gumption.”
“I had some sort of impulse,” the writer confessed.
“It's not the Copacabana, of course,” Putin responded, “but also a famous spot. I was able to see your beaches. I got out of the car and looked. Very beautiful.”
“Did you really like Brazil?” the writer asked, a little incredulously.
“Yes. What I was able to see of it. The president [of Brazil] invited me to the central regions. They say that several of my colleagues visited there for several days. I can imagine that in Baikal, but in the Jungles – no! The crocodiles, anacondas and so on do not inspire enthusiasm.”
“Yes, we Brazilians aren't inspired by it either,” Coelho said comfortingly. “I want to say that I had the opportunity to visit the backwaters on my visit to Russia. I was surrounded by unusual impressions there. I will relate those feelings to the Brazilian reader. The culmination was in Vladivostok, where I saw a girl with a Brazilian flag in her hand. She has come to meet me!”
“That was form the heart. Things like that can't be arranged,” Putin observed, knowing only too well what can and cannot be arranged.
“I was amazed at how the Russian people love literature,” Coelho sighed.
“I am amazed that you are amazed!” said the president. “Interest in good books is in the Russian blood.”
Coelho went on to talk about his return to Catholicism.
“And thus you decided that traditional values are more important than fashion,” President Putin summarized.
“I will always have good words for Russia,” Coelho answered.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of June 02, 2006
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