Nicolas Sarkozy told a group of Russian students Thursday that Vladimir Putin’s record in office had been “more positive than negative”, as he called for closer ties with Russia during a controversial trip to Moscow.
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Unfortunately, Putin had an advantage the Soviet leadership could never have dreamed of: deep economic and political engagement with the United States and Europe.
“I understand that for you the U.S. is your main conversation partner for issues in Syria and Ukraine, but I believe that Germany and the European Union should also be important partners”, Gabriel said.
Russian Federation has been mounting air strikes in Syria in support of its military since September 30. “To talk, listen and respect, that is the future for Russian Federation and France”, Sarkozy said. Without Russian Federation we can not provide responses to the serious causes and sharp crises which arise today.
The war in Ukraine has dragged relations between Russian Federation and the West to their lowest level since the Cold War.
Like many Russians, I was troubled by the little-known Putin’s KGB background and his sudden rise to power, which involved overseeing the brutal 1999 war to pacify Chechnya as Boris Yeltsin’s prime minister. While there were other factors, I’m convinced that Syria gave Putin added confidence to find out. So, we have to take a step back. He is author of the book The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin.
V.Z.: I think Obama gets many things right when he said that Russian Federation is a declining regional power from the point of view of demography, economy and even finance, which were pretty good until recently.
Since the annexation in 2014, western allies have repeatedly accused Moscow of supporting pro-Russian separatists in the region with troops and weapons – claims which Russia continues to deny. They are those whose craven relief that a “strongman” has appeared to impose order (his own) on the Syrian mess prevents them from seeing that the primary effect of Russia’s massive, indiscriminate bombardments has been to accelerate the flow of refugees toward Europe. They need a realistic approach and limit their expectations of what the opposition can do to Putin. If you interpret its logic for the last two years, Putin reacted to an unexpected situation in Ukraine, which was completely unexpected for him and for everyone. And in this crisis Russian Federation is much weaker than the other side. What is often missed by global analysts in this context, is that these initial securitising moves were focused on the domestic Russian space, and not counteracting Western power and principles overseas.
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“It is wonderful that the former head of state does not have a sense of statesmanship”, he said.
