Putin, Bush meet at Moscow airport as U.S. president heads to Asia

U.S. President George W. Bush, eager for Russia's help in resolving nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran, tended to the sometimes frosty Washington-Moscow relationship Wednesday by paying a quick call on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Photo: Putin, Bush meet at Moscow airport as U.S. president heads to Asia

Bush stopped to see Putin on his way to Asia for an eight-day trip that includes stays in Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. The president has bilateral meetings scheduled with several important allies, including Putin, on the sidelines of a summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Hanoi, Vietnam, later this week. But only Putin rated a social call as well.

The Russian leader and his wife, Lyudmila, greeted Bush and his wife, Laura, at the end of a red carpet laid on the tarmac. The Russian president presented Mrs. Bush with a bouquet of yellow, orange and red flowers and the foursome exchanged kisses. Bush clapped Putin on the back.

Inside the marble-floored Vnukovo Airport terminal, the two couples took seats in ornate armchairs for photographers, a table nearby laid with lunch. The Bushes presented their hosts with a gift of a jumbo photograph of the four of them in one of the golf-cart sized electric cars that the Russians made available to leaders attending the Group of Eight summit Putin hosted in St. Petersburg in June, reports AP.

The brief gathering expected to last only about an hour was billed by White House advisers as not much more than a greeting between friends while Bush accepted the Russian generosity of allowing Air Force One to refuel in Moscow halfway through the 19-hour flight to Singapore. But the rarity of a U.S. president flying east to Asia, rather than west, no doubt reflected that the Washington-Moscow relationship needs a little extra care lately.

Bush and Putin were expected to sit down on their own briefly, and Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, was to talk with his Russian counterpart.