Whether flying with endangered Siberian cranes or posturing as the radiant host of the Apec summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin - shortly before his 60th birthday - demonstrated his unabated desire for power. On the spectacularly developed Russky Island off Vladivostok, Putin cut an expansive figure as host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum and appeared extremely confident - even compared to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who wanted to push the Russian leader to put more pressure on Syria.
Putin took centre-stage at the summit days after taking off in an ultralight aircraft from northern Siberia to guide a flock of rare cranes on their migration south. He donned a white billowy costume for the flight, but only four birds chose to follow his aircraft. In recent years, he has tranquillised a Siberian tiger, ridden a horse and fished bare-chested in a remote nature reserve adjacent to Mongolia, shot a marking dart into a Pacific gray whale, and placed a tracking collar on a polar bear.
His critics have called his heavily-publicised wilderness expeditions stunts aimed a boosting his tough-guy image. At Apec, his critics said he preferred the company of Asian leaders who are less scathing of his leadership style unlike those in the West. There was no talk at the summit of the sentencing of three members of punk bank Pussy Riot for songs critical of Putin.
Asked about a massive bridge, built using German technology, which now connects two districts of Vladivostok, Putin said the residents had long desired this shortcut across the harbour. "Now it's there. You see, we make dreams come true," said the president, who turns 60 on October 7.
A five-star convention centre, the kilometre-long suspension bridge connecting Russky to the Russian mainland, more than 10,000 police and soldiers backed by fighter jets and warships - the summit has cost the Kremlin an estimated 16.5 billion euros. Costs for the meeting of the 21-member forum thus exceeded the amount spent on the recent London Olympics. Putin defended the expense as spending on "infrastructure." The convention centre will serve as a university, he said.
The summit staff were dressed by star Russian designer Valentin Yudashkin and the finale was a 6.8-million-euro extravaganza with a fireworks display and a laser show. After the show put on Russky Island, Russia has proven that it can host future major events such as the 2013 G20 summit in St Petersburg, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 World Cup.
But not all locals were excited about the summit. They said the extreme security measures on the island were like a throwback to Soviet times. At that time Vladivostok was the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet and a "prohibited place." Several citizens' groups held a counter-summit in the city of 600,000. "Czar Putin has on his treasure island of Russky buried billions of taxpayers' money," said one activist. He accused the leaders of the Asia-Pacific region of only thinking about growth and learning nothing from the eurozone debt crisis.
The Kremlin had for decades neglected Russia's Far Eastern region, reducing it to poverty. But then it woke up to the fact that the area, which is more than 8,000 kilometres from the capital Moscow, was strategically important and that it risked losing it to China. Since then there has been activity in the area. The Apec summit was the first project; next comes a new space station close to the border with China. Experts have been critical of the fact that billions are being invested "in stone and not in people." They said this would only lead to migration of the population.
"Bureaucrats and investors should turn their head to the east," Putin said. With 44 per cent of world trade and as an economic powerhouse, Russia envisions a future leadership role in the forum. But, last week its position as an energy superpower was damaged after the European Commission said it was investigating whether Gazprom had hindered competition and charged unfair prices in eastern EU member states.
With the accession of Eastern European nations into the bloc, the EU "undertook the responsibility to subsidise their economies," Putin said. "Now, the European Commission must have decided we should undertake a part of the burden of the subsidies." The president sees the Apec forum as the cradle for a new world order, in which Russia will play a leading role. However, there are ways to go - Russia, for example, still lacks a pipeline for pumping gas or oil, to the east. After the summit closed, Putin told reporters: "The Asia-Pacific region is a driving force of the entire global economy. Whereas the eurozone features zero growth or a recession, here we see growth, although minor."