Putin heads to France as foreign policy master

(MOSCOW) - Vladimir Putin heads to France this week on his first major foreign visit since becoming prime minister, as he continues to wield influence in foreign policy, overshadowing that of his Kremlin successor.

In a sign of his powerful role, Putin has been invited to dinner by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday after his meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon -- a rare honour for visiting heads of government.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said France was chosen as his first major foreign destination because of its presidency of the European Union later this year. Putin visited Russia neighbour Belarus on a brief trip last week.

In a stroke of good timing, EU member states on Monday approved the launch of negotiations with Moscow on a new partnership and cooperation agreement, putting an end to two years of crisis in EU-Russia relations.

President Dmitry Medvedev is due to host the launch of negotiations on the new accord in June at an EU-Russia summit in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiisk, just before the start of the French EU presidency on July 1.

But Putin's visit to France on Thursday shows the former president is not planning to give up his authority in foreign policy any time soon to his successor Medvedev, who took over on May 7, analysts said.

"It's not in the Russian tradition that a prime minister goes on a state visit to another country. Putin's current status is extraordinary for Russia," said political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin from the Merkator think tank in Moscow.

In Western capitals, Putin remains the main go-to man in Russia despite Medvedev's far greater official powers. "For us, the leader is still Putin," a senior European official said during a recent visit to Moscow.

Medvedev visited China on his first major foreign trip on May 23-24. Putin is also planning a visit for the Olympic Games in August, during which he is expected to meet US President George W. Bush.

"Our prime minister is not a head of state. He is the leader of the people, of political forces," said Sergei Markov, a political analyst and lawmaker from Putin's United Russia party, who referred to Putin as a "national leader."

"The colossal influence of Putin is explained by the fact that he remains the leader of the people. And it's the people who decide strategic questions, from how the country should develop to choosing its allies," Markov said.

Konstantin Simonov, head of the Fund for National Energy Security, said Putin would focus his foreign visits on less controversial subjects of economic cooperation, leaving political issues to his successor in the Kremlin.

Putin "used to be bombarded with questions on democracy and human rights.... Now he can just say that he's no longer in charge of politics and that it's up to the president," Simonov wrote in the business daily Vedomosti.

Putin will be accompanied on his trip to Paris by Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of state nuclear agency Rosatom, as well as by representatives of state bank VTB and Avtovaz, Russia's biggest carmaker, his press office said.

AFP, 28 May 2008, 10:06 CET