Meeting Vladimir Voronin (left) tête-à-tête for the first time in the last 3 years Vladimir Putin tried to see how sincere intentions of the Moldovan president are.
Photo: AP
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No Time for Wine at Breakfast
Moldovan President has come to make it up with Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Moldovan leader Vladimir Voronin in the Kremlin yesterday and resumed talks to resolve the Moldovan-Transdniestrian conflict. After the negotiations between the two presidents broke down some time ago, Kommersant correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov thought that the wound inflicted on the Russian president’s ambitions would never close.
“So, Vladimir Vladimirovich, I wonder if…” Voronin started with hesitation after the press left the meeting room in the Kremlin.
It was absolutely clear what he wanted to find out. The Moldovan president wanted to know Putin’s reaction to the letter that he handed to the Russian leader at the horse race for President of Russia’s Prize two weeks ago in Moscow. Voronin spent two hours then, sitting next to Putin and whispering something to him. First, the Russian president preferred talking to the taciturn Azerbaijani leader Ilkham Aliev who was sitting on the other side. However, Putin turned to Moldova’s president later and listened to him attentively.
Voronin’s letter suggested pulling out Russia’s peace keepers from Transdniestria and agreeing that the breakaway republic would get the status of autonomy in Moldova. As a trade-off, Voronin promised that Moldova would not have NATO military base deployed in the country. On top of it, he pledged Moldova would not seek NATO membership. Besides, the letter said that Moldova would treat Russia’s property in Moldova and Transdniestria as its own, i.e. untouchable.
Those who are familiar with Voronin’s handwriting agreed that it was his hand. Nothing else could indicate this since the letter had neither the sender, nor their signature.
I saw a letter similar to this in 2003. Putin got it after Vladimir Voronin’s efforts helped to shatter the Moldovan-Transdniestrian settlement plan drafted by Dmitry Kozan, the Russian president’s then-aide. Kozan proposed to set up a federative state in Moldova with the inclusion of Transdniestria as the only way to overcome the stalemate. That letter was unsigned but had an address “Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!” Voronin admitted his fault in the crisis and said he hoped that something still could be done, at least between the two leaders.
However, personal relations between the two did not improve until the horse race two weeks ago.
Yesterday, Putin gave quite a cool reception to Moldova’s president in the Kremlin. When they met, he shook Voronin’s hand and gave a ritual smile that he intentionally kept for a long time. Everything that Putin said in front of the camera reeked of the protocol cold.
“I’m very glad that we kept our agreement to have a bilateral meeting that we decided to hold during the informal summit of CIS leaders in Moscow. As we said, we will have a chance to discuss a wide range of bilateral agreements and the Transdniestrian settlement, the most acute problem in the region,” Putin said.
Vladimir Voronin obviously felt that cold intonation.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you for inviting me [as if he didn’t want to come to Moscow. – A.K.] and for the chance to discuss the issue with you,” Voronin said. “There is a lot of talk and debates about our relations and often people speaking are not those who make decisions.”
Thus, Vladimir Voronin complained to Vladimir Putin about the Russian leader’s aides and his own – to be on the safe side.
The public part of the meeting was over. When the journalists started to leave the room, Voronin decided to get to the point quickly. But when he said that he “wondered if” Putin interrupted him abruptly:
“What’s the weather like down there, in Moldova?”
Vladimir Voronin looked dumfounded. Seemingly, he did not think that the Russian president would inquire about the weather.
“It’s okay,” he mumbled. “It rained when I was leaving.”
He saw that Putin did not feel like discussing the most important thing with him.
“By the way, I’ve just met Ilyumzhinov…” Putin babbled on but saw Voronin’s puzzlement and added. “Well, it’s Kalmykia’ president. So, it’s plus 47 there!”
“Absolutely scorching,” the Moldovan president tried not to let the conversation drop.
“Exactly. Everything’s on fire there,” the Russian president replied.
Afterwards, the two presidents talked tête-à-tête for an hour and a half. No concrete results of the meeting were made public. Andrey Fursenko, chair of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Russia and Moldova, had breakfast with the president and a few participants of the meeting at 3 pm. He told me that Russian would take part in talks on the Transdniestrian settlement again. In addiction, the two countries will invigorate talks on energy and agriculture issues. The latter means: Russian will have a go at resolving the problem of the supply of Moldovan wine to Russia.
A high-placed source in the Kremlin reported yesterday that the two countries had already launched talks on Transdniestria. What is more, the Moldovan president made a surprise statement that Kozak’s plan had rational and useful points in it and would be taken into account, according to the source.
However, the Kremlin official admitted that Putin took Voronin’s words “without particular enthusiasm as he understands who says them.”
At the last breakfast, the Moldovan president told about new vineyards that hard-working Moldovans cultivate around the country. Putin made a detailed inquiry as to how it is done. He did not ask, however, what the point is in this if Moldovans have no market to sell wine at. Yet, it must have been clear that the vineyards are being cultivated in a hope that friendship ties between Russian Federation and Republic of Moldova will improve.
Officials did not discuss Transdniestria during the breakfast. Apparently, they did not want to get indigestion.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 09, 2006
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