MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram yesterday to his old sparring partner, former US President George W Bush, wishing him a quick recovery from heart surgery.
It may have been coincidence that the Kremlin released details of the telegram a day after Barack Obama pulled out of a planned summit with Putin, but little is left to chance in Russian politics.
The warm words to the man who once said he looked Putin in the eye and got a “sense of his soul” highlighted how different the relationship is between the leaders in the Kremlin and the White House now.
Bush described Putin years later as cold blooded, and ties soured over the war between Russia and Georgia which began five years ago this week, but there was respect and camaraderie on display when they first met as presidents in June 2001.
At Obama’s most recent meeting with Putin during a G8 summit in Northern Ireland in June, the Russian president scowled, lectured and fidgeted. At times he glowered.
Would a better relationship with Putin have made Obama take a different decision on attending the September talks in Moscow? Perhaps not, but a stronger rapport might have helped them avoid a situation where such a decision was even considered.
“Sometimes, at times of crisis, when diplomats fail to reach a compromise, personal relationships can be important, as a last resort ... There is a lack of personal chemistry between Obama and Putin,” said Maria Lipman, a Russian analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center think tank.
Bush’s good start with Putin at talks in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, followed four months later by a meeting at Bush’s Texas ranch, stands in contrast to the difficult beginning of the Obama-Putin relationship.
When Obama came to Russia in July 2009, Putin was prime minister but still the dominant figure in Russia under the presidency of his protege Dmitry Medvedev, and the former KGB spy invited Obama to his dacha, or country house.
“We may not end up agreeing on everything, but I think that we can have a tone of mutual respect and consultation that will serve both the American people and the Russian people well,” Obama told Putin. Reuters
