Sarkozy looks to bridge Russian-West divide

By Crispian Balmer - Analysis

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy regularly denounced Russia's human rights record during his 2007 election campaign and promised to take a tough line with Moscow if he won power.

But, once in office, he adopted a noticeably softer approach and has used France's presidency of the European Union to promote himself as a good friend of Russia who can help ease its international angst.

"I think Sarkozy is seeking to put himself in a position of mediator between Russia and the United States," said Fabio Liberti, a research fellow at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) in Paris. Sarkozy startled some allies at an EU-Russia summit last week when he questioned U.S. plans to build a defensive shield in east Europe and urged both Washington and Moscow to freeze missile deployments until talks were held on European security.

Russia has threatened to place missiles near EU borders if the United States goes ahead with its hi-tech military system and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev nodded approvingly as Sarkozy spoke to reporters after Friday's meeting in France.

Diplomats say the two men have built up a good relationship after the hyperactive French leader helped broker a ceasefire in August to end fighting between Georgia and Russia.

Sarkozy has also worked hard to develop a bond with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, seen by most analysts as the real power to be reckoned with in Russia.

HEADING OFF A HANGING

Underlining their robust rapport, Sarkozy's chief diplomatic adviser told Nouvel Observateur magazine last week how the French president had dissuaded the Russian premier from carrying out a threat to hang Georgia's president "by his balls."

Adviser Jean-David Levitte said Putin had argued that if the United States could hang Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein then Russia could track down Georgia's Mikheil Saakashvili.

"Yes, but do you want to finish like Bush?" Sarkozy said, according to Levitte, referring to the unpopular outgoing U.S. president. "That's a point," Putin replied, after a pause.

However good his newfound relations with Moscow, Sarkozy might face problems getting Europe to back a review of European security or a rapprochment with Russia, despite the fact the 27-nation EU is dependent on Russian energy supplies.

Poland and the Czech Republic, which plan to house the U.S. missile shield, publicly rebuked Sarkozy for his comments last week, making clear they thought the deployment was a domestic issue and of no concern to other European capitals.

Germany has also bristled at Sarkozy's call for a major summit in mid-2009 to discuss European security with Russia and the United States, seeing it as another example of his failure to consult with EU partners before making grand announcements.

Eckart von Klaeden, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, warned France not to launch such initiatives until talks with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

"The Europeans should not be presenting fait accomplis to the Obama administration," he told the Handelsblatt newspaper.