Russian President Vladimir Putin was pleasantly surprised by his reception in Bavaria.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Deutschland und Russland – Natural Partners
// The president of Russia calms Bavaria
Russian President Vladimir Putin flew from Dresden to Munich yesterday. There he met Bavarian businessmen and so convincingly urged then to invest in Russia that Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov could barely contain himself.
Tuesday night, after the Russian president's official program was finished, he decided to meet with Schalke 04 soccer club board member Clemens Toennies and Lentransgaz head Sergey Fursenko, who is also president of the Zenith soccer club.
The Russian organizers of that meeting had made what they thought was a good offer to the Germans. They were to sign a sponsorship agreement between Gazprom and Schalke 04 in the presence of Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Soccer was to be a continuation of the politics of the Green Vault.
However, Merkel flatly refused the offer. The title of savior of Schalke 04 didn't interest her. Later she explained that she didn't want to advertise for Gazprom so openly, since she has enough trouble already explaining what it is good for and why it is unavoidable for every German. It was explained to her that Gazprom paid rather a lot of money to German soccer and has a right to receive some bonuses for it. Merkel still thought otherwise.
“That's too much,” she said patiently.
“And ˆ100 million isn't?” they responded.
If she had been tempted, the fact that the miners who make up the Schalke 04 fan base tend to prefer Gerhard Schroeder was probably decisive.
While Fursenko was able to live with this disappointment, Putin took it worse. They met in the president's room in the Kempinski that evening. Fursenko had had a hard day. He had spent the morning telling journalists that miners were members of the same team. His mother, Zenith's biggest fan, saw him on TV and called to say that she didn't grasp why that was necessary. He probably couldn't explain it either.
Fursenko brought samples of the new Scalke 04 uniforms to show the president. The team has the same colors as Zenith. And the same Gazprom logo. The president said that he hoped that this would help Russian soccer players perform better in world stadiums. He did not explain how giving money to a German team would do that though.
“And I hope the rumors and speculation pass that Gazprom plans on acquiring Schalke 04,” he added, guaranteeing that now they will not.
Somewhat earlier, meeting with journalists from German ADR TV with Merkel, Putin said that “if Gazprom decided to buy something in that business, it would have to buy the whole Bundesliga, and not just Schalke 04. Gazprom today has great possibilities.”
“I am very happy today,” Toennis said. “Today was a very good day for Schalke 04 and for all of German soccer.” Later he added that “We will do everything we can to help and support Zenith.”
The next morning, unexpectedly for the organizers of his trip, President Putin took a walk through Dresden, a city already familiar to him, of course. He visited a cafe and the recently reconstructed Frauenkirche, the historic church that was destroyed in the Second World War, and he talked to a group of schoolchildren on the street.
The advance plane with the Russian delegation and journalists was supposed to fly to Munich an hour ahead of the president's plane but, after some members of the delegation were moved to the presidential plane, the president took off first and the planes landed simultaneously in Munich. The reception given the president there more than made up for the fuss. President Minister of Bavaria Edmund Steuber showed him every possible honor. In front of the minister president's residence, an entire theatrical production was staged, with a huge number of Bavarian hunters in lederhosen and feathered caps, millers, smiths, soldiers and officers, all looking joyful over the Russian president's visit.
The group of people standing nearby holding pictures of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya created a different mood. They were silent, but their message was clear nonetheless.
“You said that you would inculcate freedom in Russia more strongly,” Steuber cautiously reminded Putin half an hour into their conversation. Putin looked down without responding.
The real event of the day was Putin's meeting with members of German business circles, who had waited patiently for the meeting to take place after the Russian president had as long lunch.
“What is all the hysteria from?” Putin demanded of them. “We don't understand all the nervousness about Russian investment in Germany. I remember I came here with St. Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak in the early 1990s. I remember they told us, Don't be afraid of foreign investment. That some sort of childhood disease. The Japanese have bought half of New York.”
He warned that the Germans themselves were pushing Russian toward other markets.
“We'll find them, of course,” he said. “And then Europe won't receive any non-renewable resources from Russia.” He acknowledged that that attitude was passing, however and added, “Even the names of our countries sound almost alike in German: Deutschland, Russland… We are natural partners.”
The audience applauded at every opportunity. They all had business in Russia, after all.
“I cannot say,” the Russian president said at the end of the meeting, “that there in anyone we would not want to see as an investor in Russia. We don't have any such restrictions. We are forced to limit only the spheres of defense and energy, at national and international deposits. The Russians aren't coming with sleds and machineguns. They are coming with money. This is not the Red Army. These are the same capitalists as you.”
The audience laughed and applauded. But they didn't believe it.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 12, 2006
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