Bush leans on Putin. Will he budge?

Another issue Bush and Putin may discuss is Syria. Moscow confirmed last week that it had struck a deal with Syria, which Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism, to sell anti-aircraft missile systems.

The latest rhetorical flare-up came over Ukraine's "Orange Revolution," which resulted from the rigged election between Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovich and Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko. Putin even went to Kiev to campaign for Mr. Yanukovich before the November election.

After a revote, opposition candidate Mr. Yushchenko - who has made no secret of his wish to bring Ukraine firmly into European institutions - took power. That result delivered a blow to the Kremlin, which was beginning to reexert influence in the former Soviet space, to counter Europe's own expansion of the EU and NATO alliance.

"A lot of [Russia's] strategy was built on the assumption that Ukraine was the place where we will show our strength ... it will be a contest, that we are confident we can win," says Baev. "Now Ukraine is gone, you are left with such a huge yawning hole in the middle of your strategy, that it's not about how to close it - you need to abandon the strategy, and think about something new." he says.

The recent cold spell in relations has been driven by growing criticism in Washington and Europe of Putin's efforts to erase Democratic norms in Russia. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - a Soviet specialist before joining the government - reportedly told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this month that such steps "do make it more difficult to pursue full and deep relations."

Russian officials have tried to put a favorable spin on events, and the US-Russia "partnership" that they say will be enhanced during the summit in Bratislava.

"We are now debating whose democratic system is better and whose human rights are more correct," Mr. Lavrov told Russia's Channel One television last week. "I do not fear that such debates will overshadow the essence of Russian-US relations."

Still, Russia has been taken aback by the outcome in Ukraine, because of what it says about the Kremlin's worldview. "Russia is out of step now with all its neighbors," says Hill. "It's easy to cast this off as a Western plot by the US and Europe trying to wrest juicy morsels away from Russia. But the sad fact is that Russia itself isn't moving forward in any way anymore."

Part of the problem, she says, is an economy that has surged in growth in recent years, off the back of high oil prices. "So much cash is sloshing about, there is no imperative to be innovative and take drastic action, [so] the whole momentum is slowing and growth is tapering off," says Hill. "And out of this malaise, you get a sense of crisis, because you've got foreign policy failures, and these failures in domestic policy. It's just got everyone rattled."

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