French President Nicolas Sarkozy (center) had long dreamt of going to the Kremlin. Thanks to his Russian colleague, he could.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Sarkozy Fights for Privileges
// In relations with Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday at the Kremlin. Sarkozy told French journalists the evening before at the Hotel National that that Putin, relaxing in the homey atmosphere of Novo-Ogarevo, named his candidate to succeed him. The French president and Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov have the details from Novo-Ogarevo and Catherine's Hall in the Kremlin.
After visiting the presidential residence in Novo-Ogarevo, spending the night at the Hotel National and appearing before students at Bauman State Technical University, Sarkozy came to the Kremlin yesterday morning.
Sarkozy told the president of Russia that he “very, very long ago dreamed of going inside the Kremlin.” “I think you'll understand me,” he continued. “To wake up and see Red Square – it is a lot for me.”
It was unclear where he had slept. You can't do that at the Hotel National, even though it is only a few minute's walk away.
“They want to live, to hope,” he told Putin about the Bauman students, who had booed him when he declared himself a friend of America, and several other times. He also told them that France wants to be their partner and that he would discuss that partnership with Putin.
Late the evening before, Sarkozy told French reporters in reference to the upcoming presidential election in Russia that “I think [Putin] knows who his candidate will be. But he is leaving himself time until December to decide what will be best for Russia.”
When asked if he knew who that candidate would be, Sarkozy laughed mysteriously, which the journalists took as an affirmative answer.
The presidents' joint press conference took place in Catherine's Hall in the Kremlin. Usually those press conferences take place in the Malachite Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace. Here, in Catherine's Hall, Boris Yeltsin received Bill Clinton, and Putin received German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish King Juan Carlos.
Putin and Sarkozy appeared after rather short negotiations. Sarkozy, who has attracted much more attention in the press than Silvio Berlusconi ever did, smiled as he listened politely to Putin talk about commercial satellite launches from Guyana Space Center in Kourou with the use of Russian carrier rockets next year and the “inclusion of the Total Co. in the development of the Stockman oil and gas deposit.”
Sarkozy said that “France wants to be a privileged partner of Russia” and that he was inviting the president of Russia to visit Kourou in 2008 and had invited “Vladimir to come to France after he no longer works as president of Russia and it seems he accepted.”
The topic of Iran was brought up. Putin will visit there in a few days. He repeated that he has no data that Iran intends to create atomic weapons.
“I was told [by Putin] that the Iranians are ready to cooperate,” Sarkozy said. “That would be good… Maybe we have the wrong analysis of matters in Iran…” He did not sound convinced.
When asked by a journalist from Liberation newspaper how he felt about Sarkozy visiting the Memorial human rights society while he was in Moscow, Putin replied that “I think thank God that there are organizations in the world that decide to and are capable of showing the powers that be their mistakes. It's bad if those organizations are used by one state in relation to another as an instrument for foreign policy goals. But in those cases, the organizations compromise themselves,” also not for the first time.
Putin went on to say that there is a president's council on cooperation in the development of civil society and human rights (when he needs it). “As for the Memorial organization, it is on the council,” he added, overlooking the fact that the Memorial representative resigned a years ago.
Two hours later, the presidents unveiled a monument to the pilots of the Normandy-Nieman Air Regiment in the Lefortovo district of Moscow. The monument depicts French and Soviet pilots returning exhausted from battle. The presidents bore a striking resemblance to the monument as they left the unveiling.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 11, 2007
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