September 19, 2007 (LPAC) --Demonstrating the new strong talk of the Sarkozy government, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in Moscow to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and prepare for Sarkozy's official visit in October, decided to visit assassinated dissident Anna Politovskaya's newspaper Novaya Gazeta and to sign the "golden book" of the newspaper, writing, "I testify that Anna was a model for journalism and a fighter for human rights."

According to Le Figaro, Kouchner and Lavrov had disagreements on two other issues: Iran where Kouchner's statements about a coming war were met with "coldness and preoccupation" from by the Russians, who see those declarations as an "Atlanticist drift" by Sarkozy.

Another disagreement between Kouchner and Lavrov was on Kosovo's independence. Le Figaro reports, however, that the French government is in agreement with Russia in opposing the U.S. deployment of ABM systems in Eastern Europe, and against Georgia joining NATO.