Анджела Стент - Putin's World - Russia Against the West and with the Rest

After he left office in 2012, Sarkozy visited Putin several times and praised him. In his book France for Life, he wrote of Putin, “I am not one of his intimates, but I confess to appreciating his frankness, his calm, his authority. And he is so Russian!” adding that he could detect in Mr. Putin the same “Russian soul” shared by Tolstoy, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky. 36Socialist president Francois Hollande came into office determined to maintain the cordial ties with the Kremlin that his predecessor had established. He inherited from Sarkozy a 1.3 billion deal involving the sale of two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships to Russia, which Sarkozy termed a “gesture of trust.” 37At the time, the deal was controversial. The ships can carry up to sixteen helicopters, four landing crafts, thirteen tanks, and more than four hundred soldiers. 38Opponents in the West pointed out that had Russia had these ships during the Russia-Georgia War, it could have deployed them in the Black Sea and imposed a crushing defeat on Georgia in a matter of hours. Opponents inside Russia—especially in the military—objected to having these ships built in France, arguing that Russia should develop the capacity to build this military hardware itself.

After the Crimean annexation and the imposition of EU sanctions, France came under increasing pressure to cancel the deal. Hollande prevaricated. He was under pressure from the trade unions and business groups not to cancel a project that promised employment and revenue. But, finally, he did cancel the contract. To loud criticism from Moscow, France repaid Russia the money it had been advanced and sold the two ships instead to Egypt. Hollande became increasingly critical of Moscow as the Syrian war unfolded. Putin was supposed to visit Paris in October 2016 to inaugurate a Russian cultural center, but Hollande refused to meet him, and so the trip was cancelled.

During the French presidential election campaign in 2017, Putin met with Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s Far Right National Front party. In his formal remarks, Putin insisted that he was not trying to influence the election’s outcome, and both he and Le Pen stressed their joint commitment to fighting terrorism. 39During the election campaign, the young upstart outside candidate Emmanuel Macron became the subject of an increasingly aggressive smear campaign. His party, En Marche, said that its website was targeted by thousands of hacking attempts and that Kremlin-controlled outlets spread defamatory information about his personal life. However, shortly after his surprise election in May 2017, Macron invited Putin to Paris to celebrate three hundred years since Peter the Great first visited France. Putin accepted. Macron treated Putin with respect as they toured an exhibition about Tsar Peter at Versailles and inaugurated a Russian Orthodox cathedral. 40But during their joint press conference, Macron did not mince words. He had accused Kremlin-sponsored media outlets RT and Sputnik of purveying “lying propaganda,” and he raised the issue of Russia’s election interference as he stood next to Putin. He described his discussion with Putin as “an extremely frank, direct conversation.” Putin, needless to say, denied any knowledge of hacking or election interference.

Macron has continued this dual-track policy. He has pushed back against Russian interference and joined the US and UK in the bombing raids following the Syrian chemical attacks in 2018. France expelled diplomats in response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK. But Macron has also called for dialogue with Moscow on Syria and a range of other issues. In May 2018, he sat on stage with Putin at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. Praising Russian history and culture, addressing Putin as “ cher Vladimir” (dear Vladimir), he expressed the desire to improve ties with Russia but also urged Russia to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. 41He brought a delegation of one hundred seventy businessmen with him, and twenty new contracts were signed. 42Business and other groups in France favor better relations with Russia and argue that France and Russia share a common interest in fighting Islamic terrorism—especially after the attacks in Nice and Paris—which should outweigh the desire to punish Russia with sanctions for its actions in Ukraine.

The United Kingdom

Russia’s relations with the United Kingdom are the most contradictory of its ties with any European country. Historically, imperial England and imperial Russia were competitors in the nineteenth-century Great Game, the struggle for domination over Afghanistan, Central Asia, and India. The British feared that Russia had designs on India, the jewel in the crown of the empire, and on the trade routes connecting India with Central Asia and Afghanistan. Russia and England also fought each other during the Crimean War. On the other hand, the British and Russian royal families intermarried, and the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, bore a striking resemblance to his cousin King George V. Stalin mistakenly viewed Britain as the USSR’s major global competitor after their World War Two alliance ended. It took some time for him to understand fully the British Empire’s decline after India’s independence in 1947. During the Cold War, Moscow viewed London as Washington’s closest ally and a key adversary—and a top target for espionage.

Since the Soviet collapse, wealthy Russians have flocked to London, creating a virtual “Londongrad,” depositing their fortunes in British banks, buying soccer clubs, and even British media outlets, such as The Independent and Evening Standard, purchasing the most expensive real estate, arranging IPOs of their companies on the London Stock Exchange, and suing each other in British courts of law. 43They have even managed to secure coveted places for their sons at Eton College, where the British elite, since 1440, have been educated and groomed for public office. Indeed, in September 2016, Vladimir Putin invited a group of eleven Eton pupils for an hour’s audience in the Kremlin. The young men commented approvingly after the meeting on Putin’s “human face.” 44For wealthy Russians, the UK has been the preferred European destination. But the British have recently introduced legislation to tighten banking laws and crack down on money laundering. 45

While more than 300,000 Russians—including many from the middle class—have made their homes in the UK and integrated into British society, relations between the two governments have become increasingly strained during Putin’s time in the Kremlin. Britain has granted political asylum to several prominent Putin critics, including Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev; billionaire Boris Berezovksy, who helped engineer Putin’s rise to power but ultimately fell out with him and was expelled by him; and Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who defected and accused Putin of complicity in a wide range of criminal activities. In November 2006, Litvinenko fell ill and died a few weeks later. Just before his death, British doctors established that he had been poisoned with radioactive polonium, a substance only available in specialized laboratories in Russia. But Russia refused to extradite the two men accused of poisoning him. After a long investigation, an official British inquiry in January 2016 issued its findings, stating that the murder had been ordered at the highest levels, possibly that of the president himself, because top officials believed Litvinenko had betrayed his country and was working for British intelligence. 46The Litvinenko case created considerable stress between London and Moscow and affected most other aspects of the relationship.

Economic ties between the UK and Russia have been adversely affected by the Ukraine crisis and Britain’s adherence to the EU sanctions. But even before the Crimean annexation, UK-Russia economic relations were modest. In 2013, trade with the UK formed 4 percent of Russian exports and 3 percent of its imports. Russian investment formed 0.53 percent of total foreign investment in Britain, and Russian firms constituted 1.4 percent of all the firms listed on the London Stock Exchange. 47The most visible joint UK-Russia business deal was the agreement between British Petroleum (BP) and the Russian oil company TNK to form a joint venture. In 2003, Lord John Browne, chief executive of BP, signed an agreement with Mikhail Fridman of TNK with Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Tony Blair looking on. The two firms agreed to combine their oil assets with fifty-fifty ownership of the new firm. BP had asked for 51 percent, but TNK would not agree. At the time, Putin warned Browne that “an equal split never works.” Although the deal was profitable for BP, it indeed proved very difficult to run the joint company with the Russian partners, and battles erupted over governance and over exactly what fifty-fifty control meant. 48Eventually, Robert Dudley, then head of TNK-BP and subsequently chief executive of BP, left Russia under pressure, and the initial arrangement fell apart. BP and its partners then crafted a new agreement. Rosneft bought the company in 2013, and BP was given a 19.5 percent stake in the new company. 49