By Mary Dejevsky in Moscow – 14 September - the last, until next time
Russia's young President, Dmitry Medvedev, turned 43 this Sunday. He was pictured on the cover of the mass circulation paper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, cheerfully raising a glass of champagne. His predecessor, a fanatical sportsman, is known as a tee-totaller, although he may have enjoyed a sociable beer or two when he was the Soviet Union's KGB station chief in Dresden.
I cannot, though, recall ever seeing a photograph of Vladimir Putin, as
President, raising a glass of anything that might have been remotely
alcoholic.
OUR GROUP stayed at a Holiday Inn on the northern outskirts of Moscow, which was convenient for the airport that some participants flew into and out of, but not convenient for much else. On Friday afternoon, after our three-hour lunch with the Russian President, it took our bus another three hours to complete the 30km or so back to Vinogradovo, with all the weekenders making their way to their dachas - as it happened, in the pouring rain. The traffic jams said something about the number of cars now owned by Muscovites, the endurance of the dacha-habit, and the continuing inadequacy of the roads.
UNTIL VERY late in Soviet times, the family was regarded as subversive. It was the one centre of loyalty able to compete with the communist state for citizens' allegiance. the revival of family life is one of the most conspicuous - and positive - developments since the collapse of the Soviet Union. everywhere you go, you see family groups - two parents, one or two small children - as you rarely saw in Soviet times, when couples had to take their holidays separately because their subsidised holiday arrangements depended on their job.
Now, the concept of family values has become so banal that it is being used as an advertising slogan for a company advertising domestic furniture on giant hoardings above the main streets of Moscow.
A bizarre day in many ways, that involved a charter flight to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, which is now has the appearance of a squeaky clean, new town, complete with huge Russian interior ministry troops barracks complex just outside the airport, a brand new mosque modelled on Istanbul's Blue Mosque, and a splendid new traffic island and shopping centre built in one of the areas of the city most fought over in the two Chechen wars. Grozny has a new airport, too, but only one plane, aside from ours, on the tarmac. Regular commercial flights to Moscow resumed recently, but the airport was a haven of peace and space. About as far from Heathrow Terminal 5 as it is possible to get!
- INFINITELY MORE bizarre than either the deserted airport or the impressive instant rebuild of the capital was a two-hour visit to the estate of the President, Ramzan Kadyrov.
Back in Russia for what has become an annual get-together of Western (British, European and US) Russia-watchers, which has in the past incorporated an extended interview with Putin - and this year the new President, Dmitry Medvedev. The Russian authorities started this conference five years ago, when it seemed that Russia's image abroad was at rock bottom and they saw a gathering of this sort, with access to Russian movers and shakers as a possible way of improving things.
John McCain heads back onto the campaign trail this week, and he does so with momentum - at the Republican convention, he looked happier, more cheerful and more energetic than i
have seen him since I covered his primary campaign in 2000. Until now, he has
seemed lethargic and almost reluctant as a candidate, dutifully going through
the motions, but as though his heart was not in it.But he seemed completely different as his acceptance speech progressed,
smiling, connecting with his audience and apparently enjoying it.
I note that David Cameron used his visit to Pakistan this week to criticise US foreign policy, and specifically the 'neo-con' desire to impose democracy 'at the barrel of a gun', rather than through the use of 'soft power'. This is all very well, but it doesn't seem particularly consistent with his rush to Tbilisi to support embattled Georgia against Russia, where he was by his very presence making himself an advocate for US foreign policy of the neo-con variety. Perhaps he needs to sit down and think a bit more about formulating a coherent approach towards foreign policy generally, rather than pronouncing case by case, as it seems, to please particular (and different) audiences.
Earlier this week, at just 24 hours’ notice, the Kremlin summoned correspondents from major international news channels for one-on-one interviews with Russia’s President, Dmitry Medvedev. The interviews, given to the BBC, France’s TF1, al-Jezeera, CNN, and Russia’s international channel, Russia Today, were a high-stakes gamble by Moscow to rebalance the global PR war on the Caucasus, in which Georgia had hitherto held the upper hand.
The gamble did not really pay off. Western headlines the following day were almost unanimous, to the effect that Russia “does not fear a new cold war”. Medvedev’s message was interpreted as offensive, rather than defensive. New cold war, he seemed to be saying, bring it on!
If you read what the Russian President actually said, however, the message that comes across is quite different; almost the opposite, in fact. Medvedev’s purpose was clearly not to breathe fire and slaughter, but to reassure the world about Russia’s intentions, to stress Russia’s continued compliance with the peace deal signed with President Sarkozy, to stress that Russia had no ambition to restore the Soviet Union or to annex Georgia and Ukraine, let along the Baltic States and Moldova, and to fend off talk of a new cold war. Here are a few verbatim excerpts:
I am well aware that the claims will be met with scepticism, but Russia seems to be on course for completing its withdrawal from Georgia tonight – the timetable it set itself at the beginning of the week.
We are, of course, talking about a withdrawal from Georgia proper, not the regions – South Ossetia and Abkhazia – which were outside Georgian control before. But this unsatisfactory situation is the one that preceded the conflict, so it appears that the agreement brokered by President Sarkozy – under which both sides undertook to return to the status quo ante - is being respected.
Just a note: If you exclude the end of the cold war and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, which saw the Soviet Union withdraw its forces from East and Central Europe, this is the first time Russia will have withdrawn troops from anywhere since 1955, when Austria gained its post-war independence and declared its neutrality. That deserves more attention than it will doubtless receive.
Poor Dmitry Medvedev. He was only inaugurated as Russian President in May, and already he is being touted as a powerless proxy for his predecessor in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. As, indeed, many forecast he always would be, with Putin becoming prime minister.
Russia's conduct of the short war with Georgia over South Ossetia is said to provide the latest evidence of Medvedev's impotence. He is cast as having lost out to Putin. But has he?
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