Translated material
Bernard Kouchner's debut
The French Foreign Minister is preparing Sarkozy's visit to Russia
Today in Moscow in the first half of the day negotiations will take place. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with the head of French diplomacy, 67-year-old Bernard Kouchner. A professional doctor and founder of the international organization Doctors Without Borders was appointed head of the French Foreign Ministry on May 18. In this capacity he comes to Russia for the first time. Kushner is no stranger to big politics and the international arena - he was Minister of Health, was elected to the French delegation to the European Parliament, and in 1999-2001 served as head of the UN Mission in Kosovo.The main place on the agenda of the negotiations will be occupied by preparations for the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Russia scheduled for October, as well as bilateral issues, in particular visa issues. The French are going to build bilateral cooperation with Russia in accordance with Nicolas Sarkozy's instructions to “base the partnership on concrete results, whether we are talking about economic cooperation or political dialogue.” On international topics, the ministers will discuss the Middle East problem, the future status of Kosovo , security issues, including the Iranian nuclear issue, as well as a number of aspects of Russia’s relations with the European Union.
The head of the Center for French Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yuri Rubinsky, in a conversation with Vremya Novostey, suggested: “Minister Kushner will certainly try to find common ground, but on the issues of Iran and Kosovo, which are irritants, a great rapprochement is hardly possible. The success of the visit depends on the extent to which Mr. Kushner will be able to compensate for differences on these two issues with an unconditional coincidence of interests and positions on others.” During the two-day visit, the French Foreign Minister will also meet with representatives of Russian civil society, heads of French non-governmental organizations represented in Russia, and French businessmen working in Russia.
On the eve of his arrival in Moscow, Mr. Kushner aggravated the situation surrounding his visit with tough statements on the Iranian nuclear issue . He, in particular, called on the world to prepare for war with Iran. But first, France intends, together with its partners in the European Union, to introduce its own sanctions against Tehran in addition to the UN ones. Commenting on the bellicose calls of the head of the French Foreign Ministry, Mr. Rubinsky called them “not the smartest.” “This is more of a verbal exercise, an attempt to convince the Iranians that the fate of Saddam Hussein may await them,” notes the VN expert. Surprisingly, Paris still considers the US power policy in Iraq to be erroneous: “President Sarkozy repeats that this was a tragic mistake by the Americans, and is trying to help them solve the Iraqi problem without losing face, without dooming Iraq to chaos and disintegration.”