But Putin dominates his country's politics in a way that Ahmadinejad does not, observers say.
CNN: Iran's Ahmadinejad to leave politics, newspaper reports
But Putin saw that the oligarchs had the potential to gain political power and moved to thwart them, she said.
But Putin was less successful in convincing South Korea that U.S. plans to build a missile defense system violates the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
But Putin's message is plain: he is signaling that as Russia gains global prominence it is no longer content to accept Western dominance, including over who heads the IMF and the World Bank.
But Putin was also concerned about the fact that as a candidate, Yavlinsky would have the legal right, which he was well prepared to exploit, to deploy election monitors throughout the country and thereby question the legitimacy of a Putin victory.
But Mr Putin, it seems, did not declaw one set of monsters only to create another set.
But Mr Putin has always maintained he is simply trying to make Yukos pay its back tax bill.
But Mr Putin's publicity machine managed to co-opt even this, when the prime minister personally responded to one expletive-loaded post.
But Mr Putin told reporters that now the war is over "the role of the UN should be not only restored but strengthened".
But Mr Putin may yet prove unwilling to bear the political costs of reform: higher inflation, lower growth in the short term and social disquiet.
But Mr Putin's opening campaign speech was broadcast live by one channel and dominated news bulletins for the rest of the day on the main networks.
But Mr Putin's subsequent hounding into exile of two of the oligarchs who refused to relinquish power, Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky, bore troubling witness to his authoritarian instincts.
But Mr Putin's casually thuggish comment, and the fuss that the deal has caused, point to an underlying problem for businesspeople: should a responsible company climb into bed with a dodgy one?
My personal expectation is that, over the medium term, things will not be pretty but that Putin will find a way to muddle through by making temporary concessions to whichever group seems most threatening at the moment.
But Mr Putin can exploit neither.
ECONOMIST: A once and future president seems confident��too confident
But Mr Putin needs to start, if only because it is hard to see how new powers for Russia's troops and law-enforcement agencies will succeed in ending the war in Chechnya, where any supposed limits on their old powers in the past were anyway ignored.
ECONOMIST: Do as you would be done by, damage as you would be damaged by
But when Mr Putin visits next year, both men will still want to talk oil, gas and money.
But if Mr Putin's Russia is now ready to be a better colleague of the West, it has not yet shown itself to be a fully-fledged part of it.
ECONOMIST: Rock-solid allies? No. But certainly enemies no longer
Russia was represented in Riga not by the abrasive Vladimir Putin but by the man who was once his smooth summit sherpa, Igor Shuvalov (he is now the prime minister's senior deputy).
But at least Mr Putin seems to recognise the importance of further legal reform.
But then, Vladimir Putin wins elections, too, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won at least one.
But even if Mr Putin would like to retire, can he afford to?
But now that Mr Putin himself is in the prime ministerial seat it may be harder for him to find scapegoats.
Both men are said to have support from different factions within the government, but so far President Putin hasn't declared any view on the rivalries, which are steadily tearing away at the credibility of one of Russia's most iconic international brands.
The problem is not what Mr Putin says, but that he is the person saying it.
But Miller--and Putin--still have a long way to go to remake Gazprom's image in the West.
But if Russian President Vladimir Putin has his way this week, relations with the West will be just peachy.
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