Vladimir Putin speak with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in Moscow, December 2000.

Vladimir Putin and his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko sign the latest in the series of accords intended to establish a joint currency in Minsk, December 2000.

Vladimir Putin and Cuban leader Fidel Castro shake hands for their official photograph in Havana's Palace of the Revolution, December 2000.

Vladimir Putin leans in to whisper to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Ottawa, December 2000.

Vladimir Putin speaks with former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a ceremony in Moscow's Jewish community centre, December 2000.

Vladimir Putin, Leonid Kuchma and Anatoly Chubais, chief of the Unified Energy Systems (RAO UES), attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new electric power station outside St Petersburg, December 2000.

Vladimir Putin waves his hand while walking with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his wife Doris in Kolomenskoye museum, January 2001.

Vladimir Putin listens to Azerbaijani President Geidar Aliyev during a news conference in Baku, January 2001.

Vladimir Putin and his Israeli counterpart Moshe Katzav speak to the press after their talks in Moscow, January 2001.

Vladimir Putin is watched by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel during a joint news conference in Austria, February 2001.