In 2007, images of Nicolas Sarkozy stammering after his first one-on-one with the Russian president raised suspicions of alcohol abuse. According to journalist Nicolas Hénin, the French head of state was not drunk… but struck by a particularly violent exchange. In this extract from “Sensitive Affairs”, the story of this interview as it would have taken place.
Should we speak with Vladimir Putin? And if yes, how ? A little over a year after the invasion of Ukraine, “Sensitive Affairs” traces the diplomatic relations between the French presidents and their Russian counterpart. In power since the end of 1999, Vladimir Poutine knew three French heads of state before Emmanuel Macron: Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande. With each, relations have been different, depending on the personalities and the international context.
In 2007, everything had started well, apparently, for a newly elected Nicolas Sarkozy. His first meeting with Vladimir Putin took place on June 6, at the G8 in Heiligendamm, Germany. The atmosphere is relaxed, a certain complicity even seems to unite the two men. Then the two presidents isolate themselves for a face-to-face interview. The only ones to attend are their respective diplomatic advisers and translators.
Nicolas Sarkozy groggy?
After the interview, the French president is expected for a press conference. To their surprise, the journalists will see a Nicolas Sarkozy arrive who does not seem to be in his normal state. And everyone asks themselves the question: wouldn’t he just be tipsy?
According to journalist Nicolas Hénin, author of an investigation into Russian networks in France, if the French president looks groggy, his stupor has nothing to do with alcohol. Contrary to the clichés about the Russians (maintained in particular by his predecessor Boris Yeltsin), Putin is not a fan of it – any more than Nicolas Sarkozy. The story that the journalist has from someone close to Nicolas Sarkozy sheds a completely different light. Here is the scene as he was able to reconstruct it.
“An interview such as two thugs could have at the bottom of the bar of buildings”
To start this first face-to-face, Nicolas Sarkozy would have chosen to “put on the table all the subjects that annoy, frankly, manly“. According to Nicolas Hénin, during the few minutes that this introduction lasts, Vladimir Poutine would have remained relatively impassive.
And then, “he looks at him and asks him ‘Is it good? You’ve finished ?’ – Uh, yes… – Sowould have threatened the Russian president, mimicking with a gesture the difference in size between France and Russia, either you continue on this tone, and I crush you, or you change your register, and I can make you the king of Europe.” According to the journalist, Vladimir Putin even punctuated these threats with insults.
This version has been refuted by an adviser to President Sarkozy, but Nicolas Hénin affirms it: “It is indeed because he was struck by the violence of this exchange that Nicolas Sarkozy was in this state. It was really an interview such as two thugs downstairs could have.”
Extract from “Putin-Macron: the face-to-face of the presidents”, to see on April 4, 2023 in “Sensitive Affairs”, a co-production France Télévisions, France TV press, France Inter and INA, adapted from a program of France Inter.
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