The main objective for both sides during Mr Stepashin's visit was to project at least the appearance of normality.

ECONOMIST: Russia and America try to make up | The

But Mr Stepashin's assurances of good government and openness would have carried more weight if his entourage had not included the notorious Yevgeny Nazdratenko.

ECONOMIST: Russia and America try to make up | The

It helps that Mr Stepashin, aged 47, is a more engaging personality than the ponderous Viktor Chernomyrdin, 61, the last Russian prime minister to visit Washington, in March last year.

ECONOMIST: Russia and America try to make up | The

Mr Stepashin has a nice line in self-deprecating humour.

ECONOMIST: Russia and America try to make up | The

Vice-President Al Gore, Mr Stepashin's opposite number during his visit, is already under attack for his Russian policy from his main Republican challenger for the presidency, the governor of Texas, George W. Bush.

ECONOMIST: Russia and America try to make up | The

If its leader, the engaging and pugnacious Grigory Yavlinsky, can work successfully with Mr Stepashin, it will be the first time in Mr Yavlinsky's career that he has shown himself capable of teamwork.

ECONOMIST: Russia��s political battle looms | The

Or, despairing of the prospects of the outgoing prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, successfully carrying the democratic torch in an election, he could simply be putting in place an alternative, in the person of Vladimir Putin.

ECONOMIST: Russian roulette

Russia's prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, said that the explosion of a Russian rocket over Kazakhstan on July 5th, which set off a political quarrel between the two countries, was a minor problem compared with the locust invasion.

ECONOMIST: Invasion of the locusts