US President George W. Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin met before a G8 summit today, but their meeting was overshadowed by failure to agree on a major bilateral trade deal sought by Russia.
The Bush-Putin talks, following a more casual dinner between the two men and their spouses last night, will set the tone for the weekend summit at which Middle East violence and the standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions will also loom large.
Putin expressed early hope of success at the Group of Eight summit of industrialised countries. "I hope the meeting will give a good boost to the G8 summit," Putin told Bush.
But a US trade spokesman said Russian and US trade negotiators had failed to strike a bilateral deal to open the way for Russian entry to the World Trade Organisation.
"A final agreement has not been reached, but significant progress was made," said Mr Sean Spicer, spokesman for US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
The annual meeting of the G8 has in the past attracted anti-globalisation protests, but tight restrictions and heavy policing have kept all but a few hundred activists away from Russia's second city.
Some 300 communist and leftist radical protesters - heavily outnumbered by Russian police - marched in central St Petersburg to protest against joining the WTO and what they said were moves by Moscow to serve Western interests.
They shouted "Outlaw the G8", "Capitalism is shit" and "Russia without Putin". There were no clashes, though police detained several protesters who veered off the set route.