Russian President Spices Up G-8, Earns Praise for Frank Discussion

While President Clinton made his curtain call this weekend at his eighth and last summit of global leaders, a new star was stealing the show: Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.

The former KGB spy, elected to the top Russian office in March, enlivened an otherwise dull meeting teeming with vague resolutions aimed at attacking the growing gaps in poverty, health, education and computer literacy between rich and poor nations.

Putin added some spice, arriving on the heels of a two-day tete-a-tete with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, bearing fresh information about the inscrutable nation that has only recently begun opening to the West. He told of Kim’s offer to abandon his country’s missile program in exchange for help in space exploration. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reportedly called Putin’s accounts of his North Korean visit “brilliant.”

The G-8 Research Group, an association of academics who attended the conference, was so impressed with Putin that it gave Russia the top grade among the summit participants: a solid A, compared with the B-minus they rated the overall conference here on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa.

Putin interjected some tension by trying to build support for his challenge to U.S. missile defense system proposals. But he earned praise by not sugarcoating the problems of his own beleaguered economy.

“He explained in frank and clear words about Russia, and he didn’t try to hide or disguise anything,” French President Jacques Chirac told journalists.

Putin defied expectations by not asking for charity to relieve Russia’s burdensome $42-billion Communist-era debt, as had been expected. “Putin decided to not accept the lowly role of beggar but was instead playing for big-power status in lieu of a handout,” said George von Furstenberg, an economics professor at Fordham University and a member of the G-8 Research Group.

For Putin, the conference was an opportunity to define himself after the often erratic performances of his predecessor, Boris N. Yeltsin--and he did so with swagger and ideas of his own.

Putin was seemingly the most adept and enthusiastic computer user among the bunch, calling for the leaders to communicate by e-mail: Much of the conference focused on the so-called digital divide between the rich and poor countries. But the leaders themselves were digitally divided: Several are said to use computers or e-mail only rarely.

Only Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori--who just began using e-mail a few months ago--seconded Putin’s e-mail motion, and it was dropped, according to spokesmen for Japan and Germany.

The odds of Putin winning over his counterparts were stacked against him because the Russian economy is so troubled and the country isn’t even a full-fledged member of the group known as the G-8. In fact, the members of the “rich man’s club”--the U.S., Japan, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Canada--met without Russia on the first day of the conference. Russian foreign and finance ministers do not join separate meetings of the G-7 groups.

Putin said he was determined that Russia participate. “Russia doesn’t want to be and cannot be an idle observer of world development,” he said. “We intend to be integral in all structures,” including the World Trade Organization and other financial groups.

Clinton said Russia, for all practical purposes, is a full member. “But the G-7 have to meet separately when there are creditor nation issues that only the creditor nations can deal with. . . . It’s purely a question of financial necessity. Otherwise, Russia is fully involved.”

Asked his impressions of Kim, the North Korean leader, Putin told reporters: “He listens and hears what he is told. . . . You can talk to him, but you have to listen to the national interests of North Korea; otherwise, you’ll never achieve positive results.”

As for his reasons for meeting in North Korea, Putin said that it and his country are neighbors with a common border. “The Russian interest is not to have a social explosion,” he said. “One must be precisely aware of the scale and nature of the threat.”

At the G-8 conference, there were kudos too for Clinton.

Said British Prime Minister Tony Blair: “Last night, all the leaders of the G-8 spoke not just of our immense affection for President Clinton personally, but of our real admiration for his strength and his leadership over these past few years . . . and we’re all going to miss him greatly indeed.”