#4
Paris Daily Views Bush-Putin Meeting in Saint Petersburg
Paris' Le Monde
28 May 2002
[translation for personal use only]
Article by special Saint Petersburg correspondent Patrick Jarreau:
"In Saint Petersburg, the President of the United States Examined Mr. Putin's Family 'Values'"

Saint Petersburg, from our special correspondent-Personal relations, that is "W"'s personal mark. A conviction. They are more: they are a method. Meeting Vladimir Putin in Ljubljana for the first time, in June 2001, George W. Bush said that he had had confidence in the Russian president because he had "seen his soul."

He came back to the subject twice on Saturday, 25 May, during his visit to Saint Petersburg, Vladimir Putin's home town. Speaking to reporters following a visit to the Hermitage Museum, Mr. Bush spoke of the evening he and his wife had spent the night before with Mr. and Mrs. Putin in the presidential dacha in Moscow. "That gave us the chance to see the Putins live and get a sense of their values," the American president said. "The thing that struck me the most was the way in which they had raised their daughters. It is clear that their mom and dad love them very much, and that made a strong impression on Laura and me."

A bit later, at the University of Saint Petersburg, the two presidents were awaited by about 100 students selected for the occasion. "I suppose it's the most sophisticated international relations seminar you could have," Mr. Bush said before explaining: "The best international relations start when people like each other, when each one tries to imagine what the other is thinking, and what makes them move ahead in life." And, there too, he insisted on the Putins' affection for their daughters, who are about the same age-20-as the American presidential couple's twins.

The Russian president joined in in the personal diplomacy game, Bush-style, with a small ironic distance. In Moscow on Friday [24 May], he had gently "made fun" of his guest, saying that Mr. Bush had started by telling him: "Of course, it's not at our level," before launching into long arguments on behalf of American companies trying to export to Russia (Le Monde, 26-27 May).

On Saturday he pushed the mischievousness further by reporting, speaking to journalists and in front of Russian television's cameras, the little joke he had played the night before on the American president. With some caviar having been served at the dinner, Mr. Putin had tried to make his guests believe that once they had been relieved of their eggs, the sturgeon were "sewn up again and put back into the river." "That's how we take care of the environment!" Mr. Putin had added, which made everyone around the table laugh, he said, except Mr. Bush. "I believe you, Mr. President," he said.

The Russian's wit was further put to use, at the American's expense, when he told the students about their visit to the Hermitage Museum. With the director of the museum having insisted on showing his visitors a portrait of Empress Catherine II, in "tit for tat fashion" Mr. Bush "had asked: 'Actually, where is the portrait of Potemkin?'" the most famous of the empress's numerous lovers. "I would ask you to save your easiest questions for me and address the hard ones to Mr. Bush," the former Saint Petersburg law student concluded with a straight face.

With Mr. Bush having said that the first condition for Russia's being admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was that its president so wish, and that he himself was in favor of it. Mr. Putin replied: "If that's what it takes, then I do!" More seriously, with one student having asked when the day would come when Russia would export not just "petroleum and wood" but hi-tech products as well, the Russian president launched into a plea for the disappearance of all restrictions, inherited from the cold war, that posed an obstacle to "the entry of hi-tech into Russia." "We do not need preferences, subsidies, or special favors," he insisted. "We just want normal, simple, ordinary trade relations."

Mr. Bush said he agreed that the controls Mr. Putin was alluding to "were problematic," but he also asked Russian leaders to make additional efforts to "create an environment favorable to businesses."

After having attended a modern staging of the ballet "The Nutcracker," Mr. and Mrs. Bush dined on the Neva with their hosts and discovered the white nights, with the sun not disappearing at all from the horizon at this time of the year. On Sunday [27 May] morning, they went alone to the Our Lady of Kazan Orthodox cathedral and the synagogue of Saint Petersburg. They met up with the Putin couple only for a visit of the Russian Museum, devoted to the history of Russia. As a veteran of the KGB, the main Soviet-era domestic and foreign espionnage agency, Mr. Putin has kept a strict conception of separation of church and state.

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