Read Charles Bremner's Paris blog

Vladimir Putin is no longer the leader of Russia but that appeared to make little difference in France yesterday when he was fêted as a head of state on his first official visit as Prime Minister.

Mr Putin arrived in Paris for talks with his French counterpart François Fillon and a “working dinner” with President Sarkozy. The rare gesture from the Élysée Palace underlined Mr Putin's continued dominance of Russian politics despite him handing the presidency this month to Dmitri Medvedev. One French diplomat told Moscow's Kommersant newspaper: “Everyone understands that he is not just the Prime Minister.”

Responsibility for foreign policy rests formally with the President under Russia's constitution, a power that Mr Putin guarded jealously during his eight years in the Kremlin. He has also upstaged his successor, who will not make his first trip to Europe until next month.

The arrival of Mr Putin in Paris was also significant because France will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months on July 1. Discussions about a new EU-Russia agreement on trade, energy and political relations were expected to be high on the agenda.

Mr Putin's motorcade from the airport was only a little smaller than the one that took him into Paris on his last visit in 2006 as President. There is little doubt that for Paris, Mr Putin remains in command of Russia. When Bernard Kouchner, the Foreign Minister, met President Medvedev last week the new Russian leader did not even attempt to “play the boss”, a French official told Le Figaro newspaper.

Aides to Mr Sarkozy played down the significance of the dinner, saying that Mr Putin was merely responding to an invitation that the French President extended to him last autumn.

Mr Fillon was not attending the dinner despite being the official counterpart to Mr Putin. As a prime minister subordinate to an executive president Mr Fillon is the exact opposite number of Mr Putin in reality.

Mr Putin is expected to meet another old friend, President Bush, at the Beijing Games in August, though he has confirmed that Mr Medvedev will represent Russia at the G8 Summit in Japan in July.

Mr Sarkozy has been criticised in France for excessive warmth towards Russia and for failing to apply his pre-election pledges to press the Kremlin over its human rights record.

Moscow was pleased when Mr Sarkozy went farther than any other European leader in endorsing Russia's parliamentary elections in December and in congratulating Mr Medvedev on his “magnificent election” as President in March.

France considers that good relations are vital with Mr Putin because he is running economic policy and will be the key to arrangements over energy supplies. The EU imports a quarter of its gas from Russia and wants to be assured of stable energy supplies. It is also Russia's largest trade partner, accounting for more than half of all Russian trade. France is enjoying increasing investment from Russian billionaires and members of Mr Putin's circle, including one of his daughters, who was reported by the French media last week to have bought a Right Bank flat for €18 million (£14 million).

A taste of etiquette

President Sarkozy’s decision to meet Mr Putin for dinner differs from the past habit of G8 leaders in dealing with Russia at presidential level.

Mr Putin met his French counterpart François Fillon for private talks on foreign policy issues. He then had dinner with Mr Sarkozy at the Élysée Palace.

When Viktor Zubkov, the former Russian Prime Minister, visited Paris last year he also met Mr Fillon, but in the more public Russian-French commission on bilateral co-operation. Mr Zubkov also met the Unesco director, Koichiro Matsura, and held talks with Mr Sarkozy, but there was no suggestion of a dinner for two.

This is the third meeting between Mr Putin and Mr Sarkozy since the French President was elected a year ago. The motorcade in which Mr Putin travelled from the airport was almost as big as the one for his last — presidential — visit. The French leader has never met the current Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev.

(Sources: Times archives)

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