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Vladimir Putin Issues Invitation to the Games
// To the King of Sweden
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden yesterday and invoted him to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov ceremonially observes that the king was forced to accept the offer, and now the president of Russia is forced to win the right to hold the games.
After one short day, the King of Sweden felt so at home in Moscow that, when he met with Putin in the presentation hall in the Kremlin and was seated before the fireplace there, he literally would not let the president get a word in.
That might also have been because he was still delirious with joy to return from a two-day tour of Samara Region.
“Your Excellency,” the president said, “I am happy to welcome you to Moscow. It is pleasant to me that you saw fit to come to Russia with such a delegation – businessmen, scientists…”
“We came this time with the royal technical commission, which consists of members of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. Among the delegates are industrialists, businessmen and from education representatives of universities, rectors and other Swedish public figures who are concerned with the economy…” That all came out in one breath. “We have been in Moscow a little less than a day, and before that we were in Samara…”
It's not easy to interrupt Vladimir Putin. The king performed brilliantly in that regard. The format for such meetings is that one person makes an introductory speech, then the other person, and then the journalists leave the room, tired but satisfied after doing their duty. The speakers usually retire to another room with similar feelings and continue their conversation there.
Not this time. Maybe the king thought that what the president said had been his introductory speech. Putin did not think so. Otherwise he would not have interrupted the king to say, “I would like to observe in that connection that we ascribe great significance to cooperation between the regions.”
The king though was uncompromising and began to speak again.
“Really, we were interested to find out when we were in Samara that it is a sister city of Linkoping, a Swedish city with a very good university…” the king said.
“That expands the possibilities for cooperation,” the president said with a somewhat sharper intonation. “There has always been and is now a great interest in Sweden, its history, its culture. The books of Swedish writers are published in Russia, the work of Swedish playwrights are performed on stage. We know that the Queen of Sweden devotes much attention to the problems of children…”
The president was trying to say what he intended to say from the beginning.
“Yes. She paid a private visit to Russia last year and has been in St. Petersburg several times for those purposes,” the king said enthusiastically. “Of course, we recall the state visit we made to your country in 2001 warmly…”
“I would like to ask you to express my best wishes and gratitude for the attention that Silvia [Queen of Sweden and, it would seem, Putin's close acquaintance] has devoted to the problems of children her connections with Russian organizations for those purposes…”
This time, all the king could do was nod. He was a little tired.
“I know that you like sports,” Putin said, bolstered by his success. “Yu devote great attention to sports. You have probably heard that our city of Sochi is competing to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, and, if we win the right to host the games, I want to invite you and your family in advance to Sochi for the opening ceremony. I hope to see you there as honored guests. That is, of course, if we win the right…”
It's a good thing Putin was able to get that last phrase out. It made the offer somewhat less peculiar. I think the king was shocked any way. Probably no one had ever invited him to Garmisch-Partenkirchen when everyone knew that there only be snow in Sapporo that year.
“Well, that's a long way off,” the king mumbled. “It is hard to get the Olympics. Sweden has tried for a long time to receive the right to host the Olympic Games, but so far without luck…”
“Maybe the first step will be the holding of the Olympics in Russia, your neighbor,” Putin smiled.
“That is, the Olympics are getting closer to us,” the king said, after a moment's reflection.
He finally caught on to the president's tone. With less than a month before the International Olympics Committee votes in Guatemala, it is obviously important to him to tell those around him as often as possible that the 2014 Olympics will be in Sochi. Maybe he thinks that the committee members will get used to the thought, thanks to the lightning speed of Russian information agencies, by the end of the month.
“Absolutely right!” the president intones, as though he were celebrating his victory over the king and Sochi's victory over Salzburg at the same time.
“But first China,” Carl XVI Gustaf said in conclusion.
The king was supposed to have the last word, after all.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of June 15, 2007
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