|
|
 |
Ayatollah Khamenei Receives President Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with spiritual leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei and understood who he had to talk to in that country. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov thinks also met someone whose role in Iran would suit the president in Russia.
The residence of the man before whom Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trembles (don't confuse the Ayatollah for George W.) is in the center of the compound of buildings that house Iran's top clergy. They are two- and three-story buildings with blocked out windows to protect from the scorching sun – it is 32 degrees (90 degrees Fahrenheit) in Tehran.
Russian journalists, including television crews and photographers, met in a big shed full of broken scooters, metal detectors and so on. There, two barefoot Iranians in dirty robes instructed them to leave all of the tools of their trade behind. One of them sat cross-legged on the floor, giving us a view of the dirty soles of his feet. Thus deprived of our cameras, microphones and computers, we proceeded to the checkpoint where Iranians in green uniforms searched us, every seam of our clothing, the sole of every shoe, and our cell phones, cigarettes, lighters and wallets were taken away.
The Russian journalists, like the Russian and Iranian presidents were being given the honor of a meeting with the spiritual leader of Iran and the whole Muslim world. That is a great honor, as his guards know. Putin also understood that, and that the real sense of his trip was not the Caspian summit, or negotiations with Ahmadinejad, but the meeting with ayatollah, the spiritual leader without a government post who decides everything here.
At the next checkpoint men in black took away our shoes. We were led into a large room that smelled like a locker room where 20 Iranian journalists were already seated. The president and the ayatollah were to meet in the adjacent room, separated from us by wide doors and a curtain. The photographers' cameras were returned to them, obviously having been disassembled almost to the last screw.
The curtain was suddenly drawn closed, but it was clearly seen through it that Ahmadinejad had entered the room. It was even seen that the was smiling serenely. A few hours before, as he sat waiting to begin bilateral talks with Putin, to which the Russian president was late, he looked completely different.
The Russian president arrived with Rosatom head Sergey Kirienko, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the head of one of the departments of the Foreign Ministry. The two presidents sat on opposite ends of a sofa, while the officials were seated on chairs to be introduced later.
The ayatollah was a thin bearded man in glasses with an easy manner. Putin told him that the summit and everything that day were very productive. The ayatollah did not look especially interested.
“Is this your first visit to Iran? How do you like Tehran?” he asked with a quick glance at the journalists. The curtain had been opened already.
Ahmadinejad sat with arrow-straight posture, hands on his knees, occasionally adjusting his collar and smiling nonstop. There was no doubt about who you needed to talk to about the Iranian atomic program, building schedules, the Iranian threat to world peace and so on.
And there was no doubt that Putin was appropriately impressed with this fact. He understood that there are some meetings that you can't be late for. He had even cut short an interview with the Iranian media to get there.
The president said that this was his first trip to Iran and he had only seen Tehran from car windows. He had in a mumble that there were many cars in Tehran.
“Yes, we Iranian love our cars,” the ayatollah agreed. “I know you didn't get much sleep in Germany and arrived here early. I hope the hard day was useful. It is unfortunate that you are here for only one day. We hope you will come again and visit some of our other cities.”
“With God's help, we will,” Putin answered.
“How well we talk together while the journalists are here!” exclaimed the ayatollah. The was the cue for the journalists to leave, and a warning that the conversation would be more complex in private. The ayatollah was magnificent.
Ahmadinejad led the journalists away with the same smile.
The ayatollah did not know that Putin was meeting today with the main enemy of the Iranian people, the head of the state that the Iranian leadership would like to see wiped off the map.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrives in Moscow today.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 18, 2007
|
|
|
