Putin and the Finlandia summit

Putin and the Finlandia summit

There were at least a dozen assorted government leaders and Heads of State gathered around the Finlandia Conference Centre in snowy Helsinki, Finland's capital, but there was only one the crowds had come to see.

Inside the hall I looked up from my computer just in time to see, on the large visual display, the Zil limo sweep in front of the media entrance. It stopped outside the media entrance and a small figure, screened by extremely large figures, darted inside.

And make no mistake former Russian president, now prime minister, and who knows possibly future president again Vladimir Putin is very small. Even President Sarkozy is taller.

But what he lacks in height he more than makes up for in charisma. He looked tired but his appearance at this summit confirmed its importance.

Premier Putin spoke well about the environment and promised that Kalinograd would no longer spill the raw sewage of 400,000 people into the Baltic.

The Soviet Union - now Russia - is one of the worst polluters but the Premier said many millions had been spent on trying to make amends.

There was a plan too for a water treatment plant at St Petersburg to stop yet more toxins from poisoning this benighted sea. While he spoke, however, there was some criticism about his decision to re-open a paper mill on the world’s deepest water lake in Siberia.

The mill, owned by a colleague and oligarch, had been closed but will reopen and possibly continue to damage the quality of the water.

But in Helsinki the summit was going well. Its one of the best organised I have attended. It was very media–friendly without the heavy-handed security and officious bureaucracy of many others.

The Finns were helpful to a fault and I for one felt most welcome. That feeling spilled over into the actual mechanics of the summit. The Baltic Sea Action group had expected up to 50 pledges from governments and businesses to clean the sea and make it safer.

In the end it had 140 - and cynical as I am - I believe most will be carried through.

It was a good news day for the Baltic and the 100 million people who live around its shores.