Russian President Vladimir Putin is greeted by the crew aboard Caspian fleet flagship

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, has tea with a crew aboard a border patrol ship in Astrakhan, 1280 km (800 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 13, 2005. Vladimir Putin is on a working visit to Astrakhan. (AP Photo/ITAR-TASS, Alexei Panov, Presidential Press Service)

President Vladimir Putin lights a candle in a church as he visits the kremlin in Astrakhan, 1,280 km (800 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, July 12, 2005. Vladimir Putin is on a working visit to Astrakhan. (AP Photo/ITAR-TASS, Presidential Press Service)

Members of the liberal Yabloko party and 'Oborona' ( Defense) youth movement, wear mask of Russian President Vladimir Putin and hold anti-Putin slogans as they rally to support honest, democratic presidential elections in 2008, in Moscow, June 20, 2005. Protestors gathered to start the 1,000-day countdown to end Putin's last presidential term. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Members of the liberal Yabloko party and 'Oborona' (Defense) youth movement, wear mask of Russian President Vladimir Putin as they rally to support honest, democratic presidential elections in 2008, in Moscow, June 20, 2005. Protestors gathered to start the 1,000-day countdown to end Putin's last presidential term. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian President Vladimir Putin pets a horse during visit to southern Russian province of Kalmykia, near the Kalmyk capital Elista, Friday, June 17, 2005. Putin is on a visit to Kalmykia to chair an official meeting to discuss agriculture. (AP Photo/ITAR-TASS, Presidential Press Service)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with recipients of state awards during a ceremony in the Moscow Kremlin, Sunday, June 12, 2005. Shown from right are: Putin, opera singer Anna Netrebko, mathematical physicist Ludwig Faddeev, archeologists Vyacheslav Molodin. Putin celebrated a national holiday marking Russia's independence with an elaborate Kremlin awards ceremony Sunday. (AP Photo/ ITAR-TASS/ Presidential Press Service) (AP Photo/ ITAR-TASS/ Presidential Press Service)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin waves as he stands in front of the sphinx in Cairo, 27 April 2005. President Vladimir Putin arrived in Egypt 26 April on the first visit by a Russian head of state in more than 40 years, in an effort to reinforce Moscow's political and economic ties with the Arab world.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin waves as he stands in front of the sphinx in Cairo, 27 April 2005. President Vladimir Putin arrived in Egypt 26 April on the first visit by a Russian head of state in more than 40 years, in an effort to reinforce Moscow's political and economic ties with the Arab world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin waves as he visits the hisorical site of Giza Pyramids near Cairo Wednesday, April 27, 2005. Putin, who become the first Russian or Soviet leader in 40 years to make an official state visit to Egypt, talks with Mubarak on bilateral relations and efforts to revive the tenuous peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Russian President Vladimir Putin toasts World War II veterans after an awarding ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005. Three months before hosting celebrations marking the Allied World War II victory in Europe, Vladimir Putin presented Soviet medals to 10 World War II aging veterans who had never received the medals they were supposed to have been awarded decades ago. (AP Photo/Maxim Marmur, Pool)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin surrounded by believers lights a candle during the Christmas service in the Virgin Nativity Church in the village of Gorodnya, Tver Region, 07 January 2005.

President Bush, left, Thailand's Prime Minsiter Thaksin Shinawatra, center, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, wear Chilean ponchos as they arrive for the official APEC Leaders photo at La Moneda Palace, in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2004. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Worker Vitaly Sokulski adjusts the head of a wax sculpture of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his workshop in the town of St.Petersburg, 04 October 2004. The wax sculptures made in his workshop are used for exhibitions all over Russia and the former Soviet Union countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder walk at Putin's vacation residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Monday Aug. 30, 2004, with Putin's Labrador Koney. Schroeder arrived in Sochi on Monday for talks with Putin and French leader Jacques Chirac, who postponed his arrival amid a crisis over two French journalists held hostage in Iraq. (AP Photo/ITAR-TASS, Presidential Press Service)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin trains with a Russian boxing team member at a club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones. (at R top is Vyacheslav Fetisov, head of the Federal agency on physical training,sport and tourism)

President Vladimir Putin dons boxer's gloves as he attended a training session of Russian national boxing team in Moscow, Sunday, March 14, 2004. Incumbent Vladimir Putin appeared headed toward a strong mandate for a second presidential term, winning more than 65 percent of the vote Sunday, according to preliminary official results and an exit poll. (AP Photo/ITAR-TASS, Presidential Press Service)

APHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) hands flowers to the Director General of the Moscow Kremlin Museum Reserve Yelena Gagarina (daughter of the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin) after handing her the award 'Merited Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation' in Novo-Ogaryovo presidential residence outside Moscow, 08 March 2004. The State Awards handing ceremony and tea party after it were devoted to the Inernational Women's Day. AFP PHOTO / YURI KOCHETKOV / POOL

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP A woman displays gold watches with Russian President Vladimir Putin's picture and the writing "KGB of the USSR" (L) made by Molniya factory of Chelyabinsk city, during the international exhibition Moscow's watches salon 2003, 03 November 2003.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin adjusts his suit at the skiing resort of Abzakovo, Cheliabinsk region in the Urals mountains, where he is spending his holidays, 07 January 2003.