Analysis: Bush faces Russian balancing act

It was five years ago Monday when President Bush peered into Vladimir Putin’s eyes for the first time and got “a sense of his soul,” pronouncing the Russian president “straightforward and trustworthy.” Bush might want to take a closer look when Russia hosts its first meeting of the world’s economic powers. The Group of Eight summit takes place next month against a backdrop of increasing friction between Putin and the West over his hardball tactics on oil and his distancing from democracy.

“Russia and the U.S. – Russia and the West – need each other,” said the U.S. ambassador to Russia, William Burns. It would be “a great stupidity for both sides to forget” the gains that can come from working together, Burns said.

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