Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to take the first step in lifting sanctions by starting to remove retributive barriers Russia imposed against food imports from the European Union.
“I told Putin to make this offer -- there’s no risk in being the first to make a gesture of goodwill,” Sarkozy told a panel at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday. “That’s the mission of a great power, to be the first to put forward its hand.”
Sarkozy, leader of the center-right opposition Les Republicains party, met Putin for an informal dinner at his residence outside of Moscow on the eve of Russia’s biggest annual investor forum. The French ex-leader, who may run in the 2017 presidential election, called earlier this week for a step-by-step easing of Russian and European Union sanctions to help break the logjam in the Ukraine peace process .... http://www.bloomberg.com
