Viktoria Ulyanova
Last week, Russians enjoyed discussing the odd habits of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, who was on an official visit in Moscow. When he travels abroad, Mr Qaddafi prefers to live in a Bedouin tent, the type of accommodation he feels most comfortable in. The issue took a bit of negotiating with bewildered security services, but eventually, a huge tent was pitched at Taininsky Park, inside the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, the Libyan leader was wasting no time: he met with Medvedev and invited Vladimir Putin and Mireille Mathieu to his "tent" for a "modest tea party".
This newspaper wondered whether the exotic tent was some kind of trap. Historical precedents exist, and they are not very comforting.
Vladimir Putin and informal breakfast
Vladimir Putin had been in Qaddafi's Bedouin tent once before - in April, when he visited Libya still as President. He was stunned, though the Libyan leader is known for his eccentricities: his dress, manner, and use of female bodyguards, not to mention horses, camels, and, of course, the tent itself.
For Mr Putin's visit, the tent was pitched in an empty field. Pillows were laid out on the floor. There was no air conditioning. "If you feel hot," Qaddafi warned solicitously, "these branches will help..." The talks in the tent lasted the whole evening and resulted in multi-billion dollar contracts.
Naysayers will recall that in the morning, during an informal one-on-one breakfast, Mr Putin wrote off Qaddafi's $4.5 billion debt.
Nicholas II and grand parade
On September 5, 1902 a grandiose military parade, probably the largest in Russian history, took place in the outskirts of Kursk. By 9 a.m., a vast farm field chosen for the parade was filled by about 90,000 soldiers. A tent had been put up for the emperor at its centre. It was decorated with fresh flowers and ribbons, especially since the Emperor was expecting a foreign guest.
The guest at the parade was Shah Muzaffar-ed-Din of Persia. The Shah arrived in the Tsar's carriage alongside Nicholas and headed for the tent. Historians claim, though, that the Tsar was so impressed by the parade that he all but forgot about the Shah and did not treat him to any exotic foods. No wonder diplomatic relations between the two countries have been bumpy ever since.
Tsar Dadon and the cunning queen
Once upon a time, there lived the glorious Tsar Dadon. Alexander Pushkin's "Tale of the Golden Cockerel" comes to mind, because it is very instructive. Remember how the Tsar moved his troops to the East on the cockerel's advice? He marched for eight days before he spotted a wonderful silk tent in the mountains. Around the tent were the dead bodies of an army and his two dead sons. However, instead of mourning their deaths, Dadon behaved strangely. The reason for his strange behaviour was the Shamakhan Queen: "Like a night bird under sun rays, the Tsar fell silent looking into her eyes."
It is no wonder Dadon that was quickly consoled, "bewitched and charmed", and spent a whole week feasting in the tent. The maiden was very hospitable, first treating him to a lavish dinner and then laying him down to rest on a brocade bed.
The episode came to a sad end: through the perfidy of the Shamakhan Queen, all visitors came to a messy end, except the main hero.
P.S. The tent of course is beside the point. And anyway, you shouldn't blame the mirror. The Russian side would have hardly been more successful had it offered to hold a meeting in a dugout or a peasant hut. But then again, who knows?
