Putin hides Russia’s troubles with summit glitz

RUSSIA:President Vladimir Putin impressed leaders by holding an Asian summit on an island off a revamped Pacific city but the surface shimmer hid underlying problems in the Russian Far East and the country as a whole.

Putin realised his long-time ambition of hosting the leaders of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group in the military port of Vladivostok on the Pacific, once a town off-limits to foreigners. Moreover, the summit saw the building of $20-billion in new infrastructure including two major bridges built in the port city that would breathe new life into a remote region bordering China and North Korea.

“Vladivostok was a closed city, a naval port, which foreigners were not permitted to enter. For decades the city was in a decaying state,” Putin, clearly happy with the event, told reporters in a final news conference. “What we are doing now are the first attempts to change this situation, in a cardinal way,” he said after hosting figures including Chinese President Hu Jintao and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Putin first discussed the idea of hosting an APEC summit with then US President George Bush during a G8 summit in Saint Petersburg before the global economic crisis in 2006.

Back then, it looked nothing more than a pipe dream.

Even central Russia had few places to host global leaders, to say nothing of the Far East. Putin opted to host the summit on Russky Island off Vladivostok, until recently a virtual no man's land littered with crumbled barracks and rusty ships.

In time for the event, it was made into a modern summit venue complete with manicured lawns and scenic vistas.

AFP