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When Vladimir Putin threatened to “crush” Nicolas Sarkozy: “Sensitive Affairs” looks at the Russian president’s relations with his French counterparts
When Vladimir Putin threatened to “crush” Nicolas Sarkozy: “Sensitive Affairs” looks at the Russian president’s relations with his French counterparts
(SENSITIVE AFFAIRS / FRANCE 2)
In 2007, images of a stammering Nicolas Sarkozy after his first tête-à-tête with the Russian president raised suspicions of alcohol abuse. According to journalist Nicolas Hénin, the French head of state was not drunk… but stunned 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 Putin has known three French heads of state before Emmanuel Macron: Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande. Relations with each person were different, depending on the personalities and the international context.
In 2007, everything 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 one-on-one meeting. The only ones who attend are their respective diplomatic advisors and translators.
Nicolas Sarkozy groggy
After the interview, the French president is expected for a press conference. To their surprise, the journalists saw Nicolas Sarkozy arriving who did not seem to be in his normal state. And everyone asks themselves the question: isn’t he simply tipsy?
According to journalist Nicolas Hénin, author of an investigation into Russian networks in France, if the French president seems groggy, his daze has nothing to do with alcohol. Contrary to the clichés about Russians (maintained in particular by his predecessor Boris Yeltsin), Putin is not a fan of them – any more than Nicolas Sarkozy. The story that the journalist gets 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 might have at the bottom of the block of buildings”
To begin this first face-to-face meeting, Nicolas Sarkozy would have chosen to “put on the table all the subjects that are angry, frankly, manly“. According to Nicolas Hénin, during the few minutes that this introduction lasted, Vladimir Putin remained relatively impassive.
And then, “he looks at him and asks ‘Is it good? You’ve finished ?’ – Um, yes… – Sowould have threatened the Russian president, mimicking with a gesture the difference in size between France and Russia, either you continue in this tone, and I crush you, or you change register, and I can make you the king of Europe.” According to the journalist, Vladimir Putin even punctuated these threats with insults.
This version was refuted by an advisor to President Sarkozy, but Nicolas Hénin affirms it: “It was indeed because he was stunned by the violence of this exchange that Nicolas Sarkozy was in this state. It really was a conversation like two thugs down the block might have.”
Excerpt from “Poutine-Macron: the face-to-face of the presidents”, to be seen again on March 31, 2024 in “Sensitive Affairs”, a co-production France Télévisions, France TV presse, France Inter and the INA, adapted from a program from France Inter.
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