Igor Shuvalov, the first deputy prime minister and Mr Putin's right-hand man, was in London (where his son studies) when Georgia erupted.

ECONOMIST: Enigma variations | The

But on the other hand, Mr. Putin did seem to open the door a bit to more discussions on this issue.

CNN: Jill Dougherty on Bush and Putin's meeting

But Clinton had no success trying to persuade Yeltsin's hand-picked successor, Vladimir Putin, to accept a new defense deal that would involve changes to the ABM treaty, and so he leaves the hard decisions on national missile defense to his successors.

CNN: A president who never stopped being a politician