Chechnya wasn't even mentioned at Friday's Paris talks, at least not publicly. Putin escaped rebuke for his limits on Russian democracy - unlike at his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush last month. And even the potentially troublesome talk about Iran and Syria came off careful and conciliatory.
Putin needed this warm welcome, ahead of a tough visit to Ukraine and
following his meeting with Bush, which passed without incident but laid bare the still-deep divide between Russia and the West. The Paris talks glossed over that gap instead of bridging it, but were good news for Putin nonetheless.
French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Spanish Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero focused on their common interests with Russia - which served as a reminder to Putin's critics that Russia and Europe have anything in common at all.
Instead of criticizing Russia's reward to the killers of Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov - a top theme in western media this week - Zapatero stressed the right for every country to deal with its internal problems internally. These were welcome words for Putin, whose troubled Chechnya policy is losing him international sympathy for Russia's struggle with terrorism. Zapatero did, however, insist that the best weapon against terrorism is reason, not force.
The four leaders agreed on the need for immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and urgent elections there. Putin joined in this statement but it was unclear whether Russia would act on it, since that could threaten its good relations with Syria, including several arms contracts under negotiation.
The Europeans were so eager for easy talks with Putin that they made Iran look like a point of agreement instead of one that has long troubled Russia's relations with the West. The leaders said they saw "no contradiction" between European efforts to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons and Russia's nuclear energy deals with Tehran.
Another potential sore spot was the pending end to the EU arms embargo on China, which will threaten Russia's role as China's primary military supplier. But Putin, sounding unusually conciliatory, suggested cooperating with Russia's European competitors on the Chinese market, calling it "an interesting direction for cooperation."
Still, Russia's tensions with the European Union as a whole are unlikely to melt anytime soon. The new members from Eastern Europe are much more vocal about democracy and human rights in Russia and about its continued involvement in neighboring states, especially Ukraine and Belarus. The next EU-Russia summit comes May 10, just after Moscow's grandiose celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Victory Day, celebrations that Lithuania and Estonia are boycotting. The party has revived debate in Eastern Europe over which was the bigger threat, Nazi Germany or
Stalin's Russia, a debate that Moscow does not need.
Putin's visit to Ukraine this weekend will highlight these tensions between Eastern Europe and its eastern neighbor. Putin treaded carefully around the Ukraine question in his talks in Paris, insisting that Kiev-Moscow relations remained healthy but mentioning his opposition to "regime change by extra-judicial means." This veiled sting at his European counterparts reflected the widespread Russian view that Yushchenko's unusual victory was due more to western funding and agitating than to democracy or to Ukrainians themselves.
As at his meeting with Bush, Putin was happy to be on the receiving end of the warmth in Paris but made few concessions to the westernners. The Kremlin is sticking to its policies on Chechnya and Yukos despite the rift with the EU, and appears to be hoping that time and pragmatism will do more to improve relations than any strategic shift.
