An alleged mafia jibe directed at Italy by Russian President Vladimir Putin received widespread coverage in the Italian media Monday and risked straining relations between the two countries.
Speaking during a summit with European Union leaders in Finland, Putin reportedly defended himself from charges that organized crime networks dominate business in his country by noting that “the word mafia was born in Italy, not Russiaâ€, Spain’s El Pays reported Sunday.
The remark was splashed out on the front pages of Italy’s leading dailies Monday and drew condemnation from government officials.
“It was an incredible remark. Instead of speaking nonsense, Putin should explain what has happened with the murder of (Russian journalist Anna) Politkovskaya,†Italian Foreign Ministry undersecretary Gianni Vernetti told reporters.
Politkovskaya, who was murdered in Moscow on Oct 7, had repeatedly reported on human rights violations in Chechnya, which is ruled by pro-Kremlin politicians.
While Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s office sought to play down the incident, saying Putin’s remark was meant to be ironic, other lawmakers called on the government to issue a strong reaction.
“Italy should respond to the serious remarks made by Russian President Putin,†said Angelo Bonelli of the Green Party, which is a member of Prodi’s centre-left ruling coalition.
Putin had come under fire during the summit over human rights violations in Russia and reportedly also accused many Spanish mayors of being “corruptâ€.
Popularity: 4% [?]
October 24, 2006
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued his sternest warning to Georgia so far, telling European Union leaders that Tbilisi was risking bloodshed by seeking to regain control over breakaway regions.
The Reuters news agency reports that Putin sounded a conciliatory note on energy cooperation with the 25-nation EU, agreeing to negotiate on common principles in a new strategic partnership agreement and giving an assurance that foreign oil and gas investments would be respected. But he firmly rebuffed EU criticism of Russia’s blockade of its former Soviet neighbor, saying Georgia had provoked the escalation in tension by staging a military buildup around the Russian-backed regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
“It is moving in the direction of bloodshed because the Georgian leadership is seeking to restore its control through military means and they are quite open about that,†Putin told a joint news conference after dinner with EU leaders. Georgia’s foreign minister accused Putin of deliberately misrepresenting the tensions between Georgia and Russia, and insulting the intelligence of his European colleagues.
“The government of Georgia and the people of Georgia have no intention to use force against its citizens as repeatedly stated,†Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told reporters in Tbilisi. “This is pure fiction and the Russian president knows this but chooses to presume that the international community is ignorant,†he said.
The Europeans delivered a united message that Russia must give European firms a fair chance to access its huge energy resources or risk an investor exodus. “We need to develop mutual trust that requires transparency, the rule of law, reciprocity, nondiscrimination, market opening and market access,†European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.
Putin said he believed there were no issues in energy cooperation that could not be resolved. He assured the Europeans that a decision to exclude foreign capital from development of the Arctic Shtokman gas field did not signal a change in rules for foreign investors and said Moscow would respect Shell’s license to operate its Sakhalin-2 project, which has been hit by Russian environmental charges.
Russian and European officials said Putin sought to tackle EU criticism head-on by inviting the leaders from the outset to question him on any sensitive issue. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said he had raised the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of Putin, as well as Moscow’s treatment of Georgia and the harassment of Georgians in Russia.
Russia cut transport and postal links with Georgia after Tbilisi briefly detained four Russian army officers on spying charges last month. Some Georgians have been deported from Russia, Georgian businesses have been shut down and police have asked some schools to provide lists of pupils with Georgian-sounding names. Moscow has been irked by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s pursuit of NATO and EU membership, while Georgia accuses Russia of backing separatists by giving aid and Russian passports to residents of the breakaway territories.
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 21, 2006
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Russia, Georgia, European Union, Vladimir Putin, Human Rights, Moscow, Oil & Gas, Mikhail Saakashvili, Democracy, Anna Politkovskaya, Russia’s image
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Acress Sharon Stone, who arrived in Moscow to open a luxury clothing boutique, has been subject to a date proposal from an unnamed Russian tycoon.
Stone has been offered $1.5 million for a short visit to some wealthy man’s home in St. Petersburg, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports. The paper however fails to report on the star’s response to the offer.
Earlier it was reported that Madonna, who came to Moscow last month, received invitations of the same kind.
Meanwhile, Stone spends time before the ceremony at the new Christian Dior boutique in her $2,000-per-night hotel room, dining in posh restaurants and daring rare walks in Moscow cold weather.
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 20, 2006
The Kremlin’s campaign to improve Russia’s image on the international stage is to move up a gear with the multimillion-pound placing of upbeat “informational†Russian supplements in national newspapers around the globe, the Independent daily reports.
Moscow says it is keen to correct what it sees as overly negative and outdated stereotypes about Russia, which it contends have long been peddled by the foreign media. The essence of its message is clear: the West and the wider world have nothing to fear from a resurgent Russia which doesn’t intend to use its energy reserves to bully other countries and is a reliable business partner.
The first three countries to be targeted with what some commentators have labelled “propaganda†will be Britain, the United States and China, with upbeat pull-out supplements due to appear in The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, and a Chinese daily on a monthly basis starting later this year.
The project will be extended to cover a further nine countries next year and the supplements will appear indefinitely.
The articles will be prepared by a special unit based in Moscow, attached to the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
It will not be the first Kremlin-backed project to try to give Russia’s image a makeover. Last year an English-language television channel was launched called Russia Today.
And this year the Kremlin signed a lucrative contract with the American public relations firm Ketchum to make sure Russia puts its best foot forward during its historic chairmanship of the G8 group of leading industrial nations.
In recent weeks, the news from Russia has been dominated by a series of high-profile contract killings and a fractious spy scandal with neighbouring Georgia.
Popularity: 1% [?]
October 19, 2006
