Moscow – For President Vladimir Putin, the Group of Eight summit was a chance to showcase the new Russia: more affluent and influential than at any time since the Soviet collapse, and less likely to take a back seat to the United States.
In hosting leaders from the world’s richest democracies, Putin risked scrutiny of the Kremlin’s growing authoritarianism and heavy-handed foreign policies, but thanks in part to a Mideast crisis that helped cast him as a statesman and distracted attention from domestic problems, he appears to have avoided embarrassment while flexing Russia’s muscle in global affairs.
In the background was an emerging reality in which Russia’s fellow G8 members are increasingly dependent on Russia’s vast supply of ever-more- expensive oil and gas – perhaps sapping the will to pressure Putin on the erosion of Russian democracy and media freedom.
“This is one of the lasting impressions of the summit – that of Putin and Russia trying to insert themselves, or in fact being central to the pressing issues of the day,” said Sarah Mendelson, a scholar at the Washington- based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Yet the summit also was the latest field for wrangling between the U.S. and Russia, whose relationship has chilled markedly in recent months.
The clearest indication of this was the failure by U.S. and Russian negotiators to reach an agreement over Moscow’s bid to join the World Trade Organization.
Swirling around the talks at the ornate Konstantin Palace overlooking the Gulf of Finland were other issues that have continued to dog U.S.-Russian relations – such as differing approaches to the Mideast crisis and energy security.
Throughout the summit, Putin seemed to be politely underscoring that he would not bend to the will of the West.
The joint news conference by President Bush and Putin on Saturday provided another gauge of the chilling U.S.-Russian relationship. When Bush waded cautiously into the democracy debate by pointing out that Iraq has had free elections, Putin made a lighthearted but pointed jab, saying he wouldn’t want the kind of democracy they have in Iraq – winning laughter from many in the audience.
Other analysts said much of the summit was window dressing, obscuring Russia’s lack of strong diplomatic tools that could mold pressing world issues.
