Anna Arutunyan
Breakfast with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was a bigger deal than talks with President Dmitry Medvedev for the Russian media, with the local press salivating over a menu of pancakes, smoked beluga, quail dumplings, lindonberry preserves, and, of course, the samovar, complete with a man clad in traditional costume fanning the flames with a leather boot.
Indeed, Putin, who appeared just a tad tense during the protocol talks with US President Barack Obama, seemed impatient to get to the food - he was shown jumping from his seat and leading his guest to the window for a glimpse of the feast.
"Putin asked Obama to repeal the Jackson-Vanick amendment.... And the eminent guest got to listen to traditional Russian music performed by the Bayan band," a Vesti announcer remarked as cameras from the state-owned Rossiya channel panned over the breakfast table at Putin's veranda.
The feast delayed Obama's arrival for a commencement speech at the New Economic School, and a black man checking the podium was enthusiastically applauded several times. But those in the know realised the sight of Kommersant's star reporter Andrei Kolesnikov was the true harbinger of the main man.
In his article the next day, Kolesnikov said the podium had apparently been brought from the US White House, and all the speakers, including Kremlin advisor and NES alumni Arkady Dvorkovich, spoke "the voice of America". But, having arrived a little late, Kolesnikov had probably missed the moment when the presidential seal was affixed to the podium - like Kolesnikov, the seal signaled that Obama was indeed on his way.
Kolesnikov also missed the media mix-up which saw journalists herded into a small tunnel for a couple of hours due to a power struggle between Russian and US security. Vedomosti reported that they couldn't agree whether visiting or local journos should go first, while a pair of sniffer dogs - one male, one female - had to be separated after taking too much interest in each other. The Russian dog was led away.
The final stop for the US President was a meeting with opposition politicians and human rights activists, including Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and Solidarity's Garry Kasparov. Here it emerged that some were none too pleased with the staffing of a civil society group in the Russian-American presidential commission.
On one side of the ring was presidential advisor Michael McFaul, but on the other was the Kremlin ideologue Vladislav Surkov. Kommersant and Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported last week that 22 political activists, lead by Yevgeny Gontmakher, signed an open letter addressed to Medvedev and Obama, protesting Surkov's appointment because his name is associated with "a clampdown on the free press" and the "liquidation of political competition."
