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Putin, Obama seek entente over breakfast
2009-07-07
NOVO OGAREVO, Russia (AFP) - US President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Tuesday sought to smooth out differences over a lavish breakfast feast marked by expressions of mutual admiration. After a pre-summit media spat, the pair sought to project a polite atmosphere as they met for the first time over a spread of Russian pancakes and black caviar on the terrace of Putin's country residence. The US president said last week the Russian premier had "one foot" stuck in the past of the Cold War, prompting Putin to quip that he was standing firmly on both feet. But speaking in front of the press as they nestled in gold-leaf, baroque chairs on the second floor of Putin's forest home on the outskirts of Moscow, the two leaders went out of their way to exchange pleasantries. Obama praised Putin -- still seen by most as Russia's de facto leader -- for his "extraordinary work" as president between 2000 and 2008 and now in his new post as prime minister. Putin, a former KGB agent, told the US president in turn: "We associate your name with the hopes of developing our relations." "The history of Russian-US relations... has had different shades. There were years of a true flourishing but there were also some quite grey days and even (days of) confrontation." Obama, who Monday clinched a series of deals with the new Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev, said the talks were an "excellent opportunity to put US-Russian relations on a much stronger footing." "We may not agree on everything, but we have consultations that will serve the Russian and the American people," he added. As soon as the protocol was over Putin jumped up and led Obama to a window looking out on the terrace set for their breakfast of smoked Beluga and a samovar. "We prepared a Russia-style breakfast for you!" Putin said, showing off waiters in folk costumes and musicians with balalaikas. Their meeting ran two hours, a half-hour longer than expected, in what officials said was an indication of the depth of the talks. Aides on both sides sought to play up the success of the talks after the exchanges last week, with a US official saying Obama was now "convinced the prime minister is a man of today and he's got his eyes firmly on the future." But Obama indicated in an interview with Fox News after the meeting that he had not completely changed his assessment of the Russian strongman, noting that his "formative years" had been during the Cold War. "Some of his continued grievances with respect to the West are still dated in some of the suspicions that came out of that period," said Obama. Obama described Putin as "tough, smart, shrewd, very unsentimental, very pragmatic" but added that "I think he genuinely would like to see US-Russians relations improve." He said Putin still wielded "enormous influence" in Russia but noted that "interestingly, nothing Putin said contradicted anything that Medvedev has said. It was consistent." Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, described the atmosphere of the talks as "sincere and open", adding somewhat intriguingly that the discussion was "philosophical and conceptual". Obama was scheduled to meet later with Putin's critics, who accuse the Russian strongman of presiding over a rollback of civil freedoms during his eight years in the Kremlin. They will include former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who has become a leading opposition activist. Last year, Putin put forward Medvedev as his hand-picked successor to the presidency and assumed the premiership. Many experts saw Obama's pre-summit comments as a bid to split the ruling tandem of president and premier.
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