In a lengthy interview with the Financial Times on the eve of the opening of the G20 in Osaka, Russian leader Vladimir Putin cited Jacques Chirac as the contemporary leader he admired most, as BFMTV reports. Vladimir Putin first spoke of Russia's first emperor, Tsar Peter the Great, as the leader he admired most. But when asked about contemporary times, he answered "Jacques Chirac". He describes the former French president as a "true intellectual, a teacher, a ponderous and interesting man".
"Less good than with Chirac"
Among the French leaders he met (François Mitterrand - Putin was then head of government - Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron), it is probably with Jacques Chirac that he was the best . When Emmanuel Macron was elected in May 2017, he declared that "it would be better [than before with François Hollande], but less well than with Chirac."