Putin in Hangzhou and Russia's new position

(Baonghean) - The Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Hangzhou, China was the most prominent international event of the past week - a gathering place for the world's most powerful leaders. If 2 years ago, also at the G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia, all attention was focused on Russian President Vladimir Putin after the annexation of Crimea, now, Mr. Putin is still a "special magnet" of the G20.

However, Mr. Putin's appearance in Hangzhou this time was not to accept the cold attitude, but to demonstrate a new position of Russia with a series of meetings considered to be the most "problematic" with the leaders of other countries.

President Vladimir Putin smiles as he enters the G20 Summit alongside host President Xi Jinping. Photo: RT.

"Imperial Guest" in Hangzhou

When he attended the G20 Summit in Australia in 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin received a rather cold welcome from world leaders. Western leaders also showed their attitudes and continuously put pressure on Putin in group meetings at the Summit. Putin then decided to leave the summit early - although he is still known for always controlling his emotions. Russian media later complained that the leaders at the G20 were trying to "boycott" the Russian President.

However, when he appeared in Hangzhou, China this time, Mr. Vladimir Putin was welcomed as a "highly honored guest". A senior Chinese diplomat also revealed before the G20 took place that Mr. Putin would attend this year's conference as the number one guest.

This message was also clearly conveyed by China through the arrangement of the welcoming photo position of the Conference. If 2 years ago, Mr. Putin was placed on the "edge" of the first row, this year, he was placed in the center position, only one person away from President Xi Jinping, President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey (Mr. Erdogan was placed right next to Mr. Xi Jinping because Türkiye is the host country of next year's G20). With this position, Mr. Putin is implicitly understood to have an equal position with US President Barack Obama.

During the discussions at the Conference, Mr. Putin always appeared in the first row, right next to Mr. Xi Jinping. Mr. Putin's appearance in Hangzhou was so "favored" by the press that they even exploited the detail of the gift he gave to Mr. Xi Jinping, a box of ice cream. And it cannot be denied that Mr. Putin truly "shined" in a forum of elite world leaders.

Putin's meeting with President Obama opens up the possibility of a ceasefire in Aleppo. Photo: Sputnik.

Be proactive in negotiations

If anyone still doubts that Putin’s prominence in diplomatic protocol is due to Russia’s special relationship with host country China, they will have to see this view through a series of bilateral talks on the sidelines – which is also the most attractive point of this year’s G20 Summit, when the issues discussed in the official summit are not too thorny. At the G20 Summit, President Putin had a sideline meeting with 10 heads of state, in which Putin was assessed as being very proactive in raising important issues for Russia both domestically and internationally.

If the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry did not produce any results on the Syria issue, Putin quickly “made up for it” by meeting with President Obama later. After the meeting, which was described as “the two sides discussed everything in detail,” Putin revealed that an agreement on Syria could be reached “in the next few days.” It is expected that the agreement will involve establishing a new ceasefire in Aleppo after the old one expires. In addition, Putin also called on the US to consider lifting sanctions in order to normalize relations between the two countries.

Another important meeting between Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman focused on the current oil price situation. The assertion by Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the meeting that the global oil market cannot be stabilized without cooperation between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and non-OPEC countries showed the initial success of President Putin in calling on Saudi Arabia to cooperate to prevent a sharp drop in oil prices. And that success was clearly demonstrated in practice by the average increase of 4-5% for oil products on the world market the following day.

In meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, British Prime Minister Theresa May, French Prime Minister Francois Hollande, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, etc., Mr. Putin demonstrated his position as an important interlocutor, showing that Russia has escaped the restraint of sanctions to become a potential partner in bilateral cooperation.

Mr. Putin demonstrated Russia's new position in Hangzhou. Photo: Xinhua.

Russia's new position

Many analysts believe that Mr. Putin's meetings in Hangzhou reflect a clear trend in world politics, which is that Russia will gradually become a necessary and important partner of the West, instead of always confronting it like when the annexation of Crimea took place. That trend is inevitable when the sanctions of the West over the past time have not been able to make Russia collapse, while Russia's role in issues such as Iran and Syria has shown that world hot spots can hardly be resolved without Russia's "intervention".

"Appearing with a bright smile upon arriving in Hangzhou, Russian President Putin seemed to have predicted that Russia would become a factor that all G20 participating countries could not ignore in resolving current outstanding international issues" - that was the comment that appeared in many media outlets after the G20 ended. It can be said that from Hangzhou, Russian President Vladimir Putin's excellent performance showed that Russia is confident enough to pursue "an ambitious new international order", in which Russia can compete for influence with the United States.

Also in Hangzhou, Mr. Vladimir Putin answered questions from reporters about the possibility of him running for President again in 2018. Mr. Putin said that it was too early to talk about this and he himself had not made a decision. But if he had another 6 years as President, becoming the leader of the country for the next 25 years, the Russian people probably would not object when their President could increase oil prices, bring economic benefits to the country, and steer Russia through the most difficult periods due to Western patronage, to return to the new position of a powerful country with a voice in the international arena.

Thuy Ngoc