Katz, Mark N.2010-08-302010-08-302007-05-21https://hdl.handle.net/1920/5941© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Deposited with permission from UPI.com.The change of power from Jacques Chirac to Nicolas Sarkozy is important to France and to all Europe. But it is important for Vladimir Putin and Russia, too. Chirac is the second of the two major European leaders to leave office who saw Putin as a potential partner for Europe; Germany's Gerhard Schroeder was the other, and he left office in 2005. Their replacements -- Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy -- are much more wary about Putin's Russia. This is not surprising considering the many differences the EU member states, including France and Germany, have with Moscow.en-USInternational affairsEuropeRussiaArticle