RUSSIAN PUBLICATION IRONIC ABOUT DODON'S MEETING WITH PUTIN

The Kommersant, an influential Moscow newspaper, presumes that for Moldovan President Igor Dodon, any his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has "a crucial significance". Already on Wednesday morning, the paper published an article headlined "Consolation Near a Rivulet", in which its author presented a detailed analysis of the meeting the two Presidents held in Putin's official residence "Bocharov Ruchei" ["Bocharov Rivulet"] in Sochi on Tuesday evening.

"Moldovan President Igor Dodon came to the Sochi residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bocharov Ruchei, and once again found in President Putin consolation so comforting after unending exhausting provocations from behalf of the Moldovan Government and Parliament in Chisinau", said the newspaper article.

Its author, well-known Moscow journalist Andrei Kolesnikov reminded that in due time, Igor Dodon put his stake on a maximum-possible and overt proximity to Putin and to Russia.

"Now he has been in an unending confrontation with the Moldovan Government and Parliament, but the Government and Parliament seem to be noticing this confrontation less and less, whereas Igor Dodon - certainly more and more. And for Mr. Dodon it was indeed important to speak out his whole heart before Vladimir Putin - to speak before all the people present in the room, so that his words could be heard first and foremost in Chisinau, so that the listeners there should understand once again: "Oh, this man will go to the very end". And ideally, "Oh, these two men will go hand in hand"", wrote Kolesnikov.

Concerning the hands, the journalist remarked that the two presidents sat down and folded their hands "absolutely in the same manner. And one could notice their synchronism in everything: in gestures, words, may be even in thoughts..."

"Russian President Vladimir Putin said a few compulsory but unnecessary words. But Igor Dodon was attaching a particular significance to his every word, carefully choosing pronunciation, intonation, separating one phrase from another, one thought from another..."

Then the author analyzed all the statements made by the Presidents during their 5-minute-long communication in the presence of journalists [held before the event proper - the leaders' tete-a-tete conversation]. He commented, in particular, on Dodon's statement about the growth of Moldovan total exports to Russia by 17% and the export of table grapes - by 19-fold over last year.

"This is actually not so much: presently, Russia's trade is booming practically with all countries, and at every meeting Vladimir Putin speaks about this. As a rule, the talk does not begin from figures smaller than 40 percent. Last 2-3-4 years, the fall in trade was so dramatically deep that for achieving the present-day growth you don't need titanic efforts... So, it appears that the imports of table grapes from Moldova were stopped nearly completely in the previous several years", said the Kommersant article.

Andrei Kolesnikov also wrote ironically about Dodon's announcement that for the first time ever, a Moldovan delegation will take part in the Sochi World Youth Festival to begin there this upcoming weekend.

"Why for the first tine in the Sochi Festival? Because the Festival will be held there for the first time", wrote the journalist.

The author pointed out also that the Moldovan President thanked the Russian side for its participation in the peacekeeper operation on the Dniester River, "but for this gratitude, Dodon will hardly hear thanks from the Moldovan Government and Parliament". "One hour later, thick nightly darkness fell upon the Bocharov Ruchei Residence. Igor Dodon went away to live on the expectation of the CIS Summit [Wednesday], at which he would see Vladimir Putin once again", wrote the Kommersant correspondent.