Photo Gallery Bosom Buddies
Why do Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi have such a tight relationship? According to the cables obtained by WikiLeaks, this is a question asked frequently by US diplomats. They consider Berlusconi to be a pro-American leader, but they find his leadership style to be "unorthodox."
"Sex scandals, criminal investigations, family problems and financial concerns appear to be weighing heavily on Berlusconi's personal and political health as well as on his decision-making ability," the US ambassador wrote in a cable data New Year's 2010, written just after his first visit with the Italian prime minister after getting posted in Rome. The cable states that Berlusconi briefly nodded off. "Frequent late nights and a penchant for partying hard mean that he does not get sufficient rest," the ambassador cabled to Washington.
In December 2009, a mentally ill man struck Berlusconi with a miniature model of the Mailand Duoma during a visit in the Italian industrial city. When the prime minister visited the ambassador two weeks later, the diplomat noted that he was still "bandaged and bruised from the December attack."
Berlusconi had been hit by a model of the Duomo gothic cathedral like this one. After the attack, Berlusconi went to his country home in Lombardy to recover.
During a visit by the ambassador to Berlusconi, the prime minister's phone rang: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted to speak with Il Cavaliere. The American was quickly ushered out. The Russian was more important. (This archive photo was taken outside St. Petersburg in October 2010.)
Relations between the Americans and Berlusconi are very good. Here, the Italian can be seen together with US President Barack Obama at the G-8 summit in L'Aquila in July 2008.
Obama and Berlusconi in a group photo op with Russian President Dimity Medvedev. In this photo, the leaders appear to be in the best of spirits. Still, Obama took his time before granting the Italian a meeting.
According to the memos, the tensions in the relationship were caused by the fact that the Americans had trouble figuring out what was behind Berlusconi's friendship with Putin. Do the two men have personal business ties? Both strenuously deny such rumors.
Putin's wife and daughter often visit Berlusconi. Strawberry cake and swordfish are on the villa menu when they are there, and Putin telephones to wish them bon appetit. Berlusconi is also fond of visiting Putin, as during this February 2003 trip to Moscow.
Berlusconi is only too happy to attend Putin's parties, once even changing an appointment with King Abdullah II of Jordan to do so. "Berlusconi thus, unavoidably, left the impression that, in choosing private fun over statecraft, he was husbanding his flagging energies for a blow-out party at Putin's private dacha," the US diplomats noted. Since revelations about his earlier excesses have come to light, wild parties in Italy have become too risky for Berlusconi, the Americans speculated.
The two world leaders together with their wives (Lyudmila Putin, left) and Berlusconi's wife Veronica Lario (right), together with Putin's dog Koni during a meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in August 2005.
The Russian-Italian axis does not suit the Americans at all. They see their energy and political interests endangered because Berlusconi has apparently negotiated generous conditions for the Italian oil and energy giant ENI with the Russian firm Gazprom, and because he generally supports Russian energy projects rather than those of Western countries.
