In the postSoviet space the impact of St

15-July 17, Vladimir Poutine will preside over his first G8 in St. Petersburg. Time should probably not be frank camaraderie both misunderstandings and the ulterior accumulated for several months. The Summit takes place in a context marked by three interrelated factors: the high pressure on energy prices, uncertainty about the Iraq and the Iran, and the redefinition in the Western policies towards the Russia. This last bute less on the assessment of the Russian plan on how to deal with him. What book this special power, which continues to escape to Western governance criteria Net hardening of Washington to Moscow, which is particularly expressed in the speech of Dick Cheney in Vilnius in may grows near experts from the White House to consider the exclusion of the G8 Russia. Sign of the unfinished character of the Russian transition, or "specificity" claimed, the Russia is still not member of the G7 finance. Force is that, despite the discreet support of Paris and Berlin, the Kremlin has hardly done campaign for this final integration, fear no doubt to wipe a refusal which would alter the brightness of St. Petersburg.

It must be aware of the exceptional nature of this Summit for Vladimir Putin, who has thirst for recognition and international credibility. This is a country stunned by 1990s shock therapies, leached by the financial crisis of 1998, which is now almost désendetté and in the heart of the energy reconstructions. This is a country that lived under the supervision of the IMF and the World Bank and now seeks to invest heavily abroad. This dramatic reversal will not fail to be intensively exploited by the media outlets of the Kremlin beyond the domestic scene. In the post-Soviet space, the impact of St. Petersburg should allow the Kremlin to remind President Saakashvili, Yushchenko, Aliyev and Voronin (gathered in GUAM) the path that they have to go to marginalize the Russia. At the same time, Moscow should use the Summit to underline to countries such as the Algeria, the Norway or the Venezuela that it is the only member of the G8, with the Canada exporter net energy.

Today what results to expect from St. Petersburg, without understanding how her dress is already a symbolic victory for Putin. Saturating the media space with the "energy security", the Russia came to be recognized as energy superpower. The main outcome of the Summit should therefore be the consecration of the status of energy leader, a fortiori if the Iran was the subject of exchanges of views between participants.

The Summit is the subject of careful preparation, through groups of experts, under the close control of the presidential administration. "Energy security" in addition, the Kremlin has placed the fight against infectious diseases and the development of education in the agenda. These priorities are to develop in relation to the annual speech by Putin to Assembly Federal (May 2006), who stressed the importance although late for many commentators the conditions (on) lives of its people. This speech was struck by the brevity of the developments on the foreign partnerships, particularly with the European Union. Conversely, he focused on military matters, which allows to recall that Moscow uses its petrodollars for repayment of its debt, for its social stabilization fund, but also for the relaunch of its military expenditure. In this last regard, Putin pursues an unrealistic goal in light of its current forces: be able, like the United States, to intervene at the global, regional and local level.

Of this overall picture three conclusions can be drawn. First, the Russia account first and foremost on its own resources to develop in sur-valorisant its potential energy. Second, the Russia mind insofar as it highlights the divisions between Western powers and where she designed under G8 as an instance of regulation of the international governance as a modernized form of concert of nations. Third, the international situation allows to value its intermediate positions, on the Iran, while taking advantage to full of energy prices: unless they are unlimited, Moscow now has significant means to defend its national interests. The Russia does not seek to adopt the behaviour of his comrades. It is now in distinguished. A charge for others to act accordingly.