PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP UN Secretary Genaral Kofi Annan (R) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in UN headquarters in New York, 25 September, 2003.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma talk during their unformal meeting on the Birjuchiy island in the Azov sea 17 September 2003.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/WOJTEK LASKI 16.01.2002 Warszawa - Wizyta prezydenta Wladimira Putina.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/WOJTEK LASKI WIZYTA W. PUTINA W POLSCE - POWITANIE GOSCI W TEATRZE WIELKIM

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Russian President Vladimir Putin invites US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to start talks during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, 26 July 2001. Seeking to capitalize on the burgeoning relationship between the US and Russian Presidents, Condoleezza Rice and the American commerce and treasury secretaries met with Vladimir Putin to try to accelerate talks on US missile defense plans.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO US President George W. Bush (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin smile after their joint press conference 22 July 2001, following their bilateral meeting at the annual G-8 conference at Palazzo Doria Spinola in Genoa. Bush and Putin agreed Sunday to link Washington's plans to build a missile defense to a discussion of cutting both sides' nuclear arsenals.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Le pr??sident Jacques Chirac (D) et son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine plaisantent, le 01 juillet 2001 ?. Saint-P??tersbourg, lors d'un diner au premier jour de la visite officielle du pr??sident fran??ais.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with ex-President Boris Yeltsin during their meeting in the Kremlin 31 December 2000. Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly left the presidency one year ago to the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. AFP PHOTO EPA/ITAR-TASS POOL

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP French Presdent Jacques Chirac (R) welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin, 30 October 2000 in front of the Elysee palace in Paris, in the frames of Putin's three days-visit in France. AFP PHOTO GEORGES GOBET

PHOTO: EAST NEWS PREZYDENT ROSJI WLADIMIR PUTIN(L) WITANY PRZEZ PRZYWODCE KOREI POLNOCNEJ KIM JONG II(P) NA LOTNISKU PJONGJANG Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) is we lcomed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (R) upon his arrival at Pyongyang Airport, 19 July 2000. Putin left North Korea 20 July after a historic two-day visit marked by a conditional offer from the Stalinist state to halt its missile development program. AFP PHOTO

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov after he unveiled a statue of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in the Villa Borghese Garden in the center of Rome 06 June 2000, on the last day of his two-day visit in Italy. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS PREZYDENT ROSJI WLADIMIR PUTIN NA AUDIENCJI U PAPIEZA JANA PAWLA II W WATYKANIE Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Pope John Paul II during the audience in the Vatican 05 June 2000. Putin met earlier with Italian Premier Giuliano Amato and called on the European Union and NATO to join forces with Moscow and set up a joint anti-missile shield.

PHOTO: Wojtek Laski/EAST NEWS ROSYJSKI PREZYDENT - WLADIMIR PUTIN I EX PREZYDENT- BORYS JELCYN PODCZAS PARADY NA PLACU CZERWONYM W MOSKWIE.PLAC CZERWONY JEST MIEJSCEM GLOWNYCH OBCHODOW 55 ROCZNICY RADZIECKIEJ OBRONY PRZED NIEMCAMI Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, looks on as ex-president Boris Yeltsin cleans his eye during a parade on Red Square, in Moscow, Tuesday, May 9, 2000. Fresh-faced cadets joined grizzled, bemedalled World War II veterans in a lavish parade Tuesday on Red Square as Russia marked the 55th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany.