Tidligere præsident for Frankrig Nicolas Sarkozy, der ledede republikken mellem 2007 og 2012, betragter den russiske leder Vladimir Putin som en mand, dedikeret til sit ord, skrev Sarkozy i sine memoarer, der blev offentliggjort i Paris fredag.
'Han er let at tale med,' afslørede Sarkozy i sin bog, The Time of Tempests (Le Temps de temp · tes, Tome 1, Editions de l'Observatoire, 2020). 'Han lytter opmærksomt, ekstremt høflig, tilgængelig, sympatisk og ivrig efter at smile. Han er usædvanligt hengiven over for sine venner og det han tror på, men han kan ændre sin position, hvis han er overbevist om noget.'
Ifølge Sarkozy, 'er det meget vigtigt og meget vanskeligt at vinde Putins tillid, men så snart dette sker, bliver han en anden samtalepartner.'
"Han holder altid ordet, når det er givet," skrev den tidligere præsident, der gentagne gange måtte forhandle med Putin. 'Mest af alt hader han dobbeltmoral, især i sin kommunikation med pressen.'
Kommentar: Delvist oversat af Sott.net fra 'Putin always keeps his word' - France's ex-President Sarkozy
According to Sarkozy, "one cannot be nice with Putin tet-a-tet, and then criticize him behind his back; it is also impossible to force him to do something."
The Russian leader "is ready to admit disagreements and never holds grudge over it," Sarkozy writes.
"He clearly understands that you have a red line that you will not cross, if you, in return, agree that he also has boundaries that he will not cross either," the politician explained. The Russian President "treats randomly said words and empty promises with mistrust; he values deeds, which he does not forget, both good and bad, and especially if he thinks he has been betrayed.".
Kommentar: Hmmm, this reminds us of another former world leader who had a similar complementary assessment about the Russian President - which you'd never know if you had only been exposed to Western corporate media over the last several or so years.