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On the sidelines of the stadiums, where he shone by his absence, the Kremlin leader redoubled his diplomatic activism during the World Cup.
Well prepared his first bilateral summit with Donald Trump, Monday, July 16 in Helsinki
"His" world will end in apotheosis. Sunday, July 15, Vladimir Putin will certainly not play the "Sbornaya", the national team, whose good career until the elimination in the quarter-finals sparked a wave of patriotism in Russia and praise abroad. But, alongside Emmanuel Macron who came to support the "Blues" – and with whom he will talk on the sidelines of Sunday's final – the Kremlin leader will preside over the most-watched football match in the world, just before he to fly to Helsinki and its first summit with US President Donald Trump. Far from a Russia and a president isolated by international tensions and criticism
Vladimir Putin, modest and discreet
The unexpected victories of Russian footballers, but also the almost unanimous compliments of foreign visitors on this world close to being the best organized in history, have boosted a country used to being isolated. This success has changed the image of Russia. Suspected of using the world as a tool of "soft power", Vladimir Putin, he played the card of modesty. And discretion. The president has not been to the stadium once since his appearance at the opening match. Not even to see the Russian team. Not even to sit next to visiting heads of state to support their own team.
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"It's hard to understand. Perhaps he wanted to convey a message: absent, he has never been so present ", assumes Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs review of analysis of relations international, deemed close to power. On the eve of the Trump-Putin summit, Vladimir Putin has redoubled his diplomatic activism. In the Kremlin or in his dacha, he has received many heads of state. Latest: Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu with whom he spoke about Syria, subject to the heart of the Russian-American summit in Helsinki on Monday, July 16.
Mini-peaks on the sidelines of the World Cup [19659005OnthedayoftheopeningmatchandthefirstvictoryoftheRussianteamthepresidentwassurroundedby17headsofstateThisdiplomaticsuccesswascertainlylimitedtothecircleofloyalfriends:colleaguesfromthe"nearabroad"oftheformerSovietzonefromBelarustoKyrgyzstanaswellassomecosmopolitantouchesthankstothepresenceofcounterpartsfromPanamaorRwandaAlsopresentwastheCrownPrinceofSaudiArabiaMohammedBenSalmanwhoonthatdaynegotiatedundertheKremlinanincreaseinoilproductionunderOPEC
Since then, Vladimir Putin chained the mini-summits with several counterparts coming for a match: the presidents of Senegal, Portugal, South Korea, but also … an emissary of the North Korean leader. In all discretion, Russia is preparing an unprecedented meeting between the two Koreas in September in Vladivostok. The president has probably discussed this project with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who also spoke about politics before a match. But also with Chinese President Xi Jinping he had on the phone.
The Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on hunger strike
Another regular interlocutor at the end of the line: the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. While the Helsinki summit is likely to stall on the Ukrainian issue, the two presidents would move forward with a view to an exchange of prisoners, including the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov who, held in Russia, has been on hunger strike for more than one month.
"For Putin, this World Cup is a chance to show another image of Russia abroad but also to pursue its diplomacy in a completely different context. It's very rewarding for him! " analysis Arnaud Dubien, director of the Franco-Russian Observatory. No leader of the major European capitals, however, made the trip. Only exception: Emmanuel Macron, already present at the semi-final in Saint-Petersburg with the Belgian king Philippe.
In the presidential rostrum, Vladimir Putin shone with his absence that day. As if to recall that he was the host and conductor of the World Cup but that he remained above the fray. With a view to a rendezvous, Monday, July 16 even more decisive: the summit of Helsinki with Donald Trump.
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Difficult Russian-American relations
Nearly ten years after the "revival" of Russian-American relations, wanted by Barack Obama
and which turned out to be a failure, the meeting between Putin and Trump could be a new an attempt
to warm relations that have never been so bad since the Cold War
The list of points of disagreement between the two countries remains important: Moscow's support for the Syrian regime; annexation of Crimea and then Prussian insurrection in eastern Ukraine; poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, at the origin of a historic wave of expulsions of Russian diplomats and interferences all over the place
Benjamin Quénelle (in Moscow)
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