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 US 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. However good his newfound relations with Moscow, Sarkozy might face problems getting Europe to back a review of European security or a rapprochement 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 US 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 are conducted with US President-elect Barack Obama. “The Europeans should not be presenting fait accomplis to the Obama administration,” he told the Handelsblatt newspaper. Staying in the limelight But analysts say Sarkozy is using the long handover period in the United States to try to establish his own credentials as the main interlocutor between Europe and Washington, while Germany's Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are distracted by their own domestic political problems. The French leader has partly been able to strut his stuff because the EU rotating presidency has given him a much higher profile, allowing him to preside over countless summits and set the tone for European relations with Russia. The presidency passes to the Czech Republic on Jan. 1 and it will resist any attempt by Sarkozy to cling onto the role. But Russia will not want to deal with the Czech Republic, which used to be inside the Warsaw Pact, as openly as it dealt with France. Sarkozy is also unlikely to sit back and let others jeopardize the warmer ties he has established with Moscow. Analysts expect the French leader will look to persuade his allies that it is in everyone's interests to see him pursue his own open approach with Moscow in such uncertain times.
