Smash hit

For all that, Putin still has his allies in the West, not least President George W Bush and Tony Blair, who are said genuinely to like the Russian leader.

People who have met him say he is not only charming and impressively well-briefed, but, as one Kremlin reporter put it, “he literally recruits you. He makes you feel that he is 100% on your side. It’s captivating. I’ve seen many of his critics totally enthralled after meeting him. Often he’s just getting you to show your cards”.

There is more to it than that, however. Washington and London are desperately looking to Putin to deal with pariah states such as Syria and Iran. The Russian leader is lapping up the attention and status he has won at the high-stakes table of international diplomatic poker.

It started after 9/11, when Putin became an important ally in the war on terror by letting the US military operate out of bases in central Asia.

By his own admission, Putin was a “street hooligan” until the age of 11 when he took up his beloved judo. But some critics insist he is still the bad boy on the block because of help he has offered for Iran’s nuclear programme and his sale of weapons to both Iran and Syria.

It leaves many analysts wondering what he is up to. His nostalgia for Soviet days can be explained by the Putin family background, say aides. His grandfather worked as a cook for Lenin and Stalin.

His patriotism is also put down to history: his father volunteered for duty in the second world war and was wounded. His mother nearly starved in the siege of Leningrad (now St Petersburg), in which Putin’s brother died.

“Putin is sincere when he laments the collapse of the Soviet Union,” said an aide. “He served 16 years in the KGB, working for a system which then collapsed. His nostalgia is for the days when this country was respected. He wants it to be a player again. The G8 is a unique opportunity. That’s why his opponents want to spoil the party.”

He is certainly popular at home. He has an approval rating of 73% and is hailed as a sex symbol by women who praise his piercing blue eyes. In contrast to Boris Yeltsin, his predecessor, Putin prefers green tea to vodka.

More significantly, Russia is experiencing its longest period of economic growth in decades, averaging more than 6% a year since Putin came to power. His boldest strike was against Khodorkovsky’s Yukos oil company, stripped of its assets in what even close aides have described as “state theft”.

His countrymen seem to care little about his worst abuses. “Many people here still have a Soviet frame of mind,” said Vladimir Pozner, one of the country’s top political commentators. “Freedom of speech is not a priority for them. Putin is making Russia strong again and people like that.”

Which is why the St Petersburg summit will provide the perfect photo opportunity for him, rain or shine.

RUSSIA’S PATH TO ECONOMIC POWER

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