Ketchum Hired to Polish Russia's Image for G8 Summit

"Moscow Hires US PR Firm for Image Revamp" - BBC News, 1 May 2006

Russia is hiring a US public relations company to improve its image as it hosts the G8 summit of world leaders, according to the Financial Times [see article excerpts, below].

The government has completed a deal with US agency Ketchum worth millions of dollars, to advise Russia on how it should communicate with western media.

Russia's G8 presidency in 2006 includes a summit in July in St Petersburg.

The agency will address how to boost Russia's image as tensions about its strong position in the oil sector grow

President Putin's reputation has been under fire in recent months following the decision to sever gas supplies to Ukraine in January.

And most recently fears increased when Mr Putin accused European countries of increasing fears over the reliability of Russian energy supplies.

He said Russian companies could consider new markets in Asia if they were unable to operate freely in Europe - a statement interpreted by some as a veiled threat.

While Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's deputy press officer, said it had decided to hire advisers last year, but he added that "[the presidency] didn't get off to a good start on the communications front".

"And this is connected to the misinterpretation [in the west] of what happened with Gazprom and Ukraine," added Mr Peskov.

"Perhaps if we had been already working then with some kind of communications company things would have been different."...

"Kremlin Hires PR Group to Improve G8 Image," by Neil Buckley (in Moscow) - the Financial Times, 30 April 2006

The Kremlin, not renowned as one of the world’s most media-savvy organisations, is signing up western public relations advisers for the first time to improve the presentation of Russia’s presidency of the Group of Eight leading nations.

Russia’s presidential administration has signed a multi-million dollar contract with Ketchum, a US-based PR firm, to advise on communications with western media during its G8 term, which started on January 1 and lasts for 12 months, as well as the St Petersburg summit in July.

The contract is a coup for Ketchum, which adds the Kremlin to clients including IBM, Kodak, FedEx and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Work will be co-ordinated by Ketchum’s Washington DC office, and a sister company, GPlus Europe, a Brussels-based public affairs group founded by Peter Guilford and Nigel Gardner, two former European Commission trade spokesmen.

They face a unique PR challenge in trying to win recognition of Russia’s G8 work amid growing international suspicion of its record on democracy under Vladimir Putin, president, and of how it plans to use its oil and gas might.

Moscow’s G8 presidency has been marred by the decision by Gazprom, the state-controlled natural gas giant, to cut off supplies to Ukraine in a pricing dispute on January 1, undermining Russia’s decision to make energy security a top G8 theme.

It has also faced calls from John McCain, US senator, for member countries to boycott the St Petersburg summit over Russia’s authoritarian tendencies....

[Deputy press attaché to President Putin] Mr Peskov said Mr Putin had approved the decision, but it had taken time to persuade all the necessary Kremlin officials. Observers said they did not expect to transform overnight western media coverage that Moscow believes is often excessively negative. However, the Kremlin does want to gain credit, where due, for the handling of its presidency and summit.