Tomorrow's seaside summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States will bring down the curtain on a double act that has lasted for 28 performances and seven years.

George Bush will join Vladimir Putin at his summer residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi for their last meeting before the Russian leader stands down in favour of Dmitri Medvedev next month.

Mr Bush is the man who famously claimed to have looked his counterpart in the eye and got “a sense of his soul” at their first meeting in June 2001.

The judgment of history awaits both men. In 2000 Mr Bush was in charge of a confident international colossus, ready to flex its economic and military muscles to make its vision of the world come true; Russia was still a humbled former superpower struggling to get to grips with post-Soviet reality and fighting - and apparently losing - a war with separatists in Chechnya.

What a difference eight years makes.

After 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr Bush is regarded at home as a lame-duck President limping towards the conclusion of his second term with the US economy sliding towards recession and his overseas conflicts showing no signs of ending.

A CBS/New York Times poll on Thursday showed that 81 per cent of Americans believed their country was on the wrong track and only 28 per cent approved of Mr Bush's presidency. By contrast, Mr Putin enjoyed an 80 per cent approval rating in a poll published last week. Almost two thirds believed that in reality he would remain in charge of Russia after leaving the Kremlin next month to become Prime Minister under President Medvedev.

The sources of friction between Russia and the US have been remarkably constant. On the agenda in Sochi will be Nato expansion, the Balkans crisis, Iran and missile defence - all discussed at their first meeting in Slovenia.

Relations grew increasingly abrasive as Mr Putin challenged Nato by ordering long-range Bear bombers to resume round-the-clock sorties, threatened to aim nuclear missiles at Europe if the US deployed a missile defence shield, and backed Serbia against independence for Kosovo.

Russia has fought hard to scupper Nato membership for Ukraine and Georgia, and while Mr Bush has insisted that they should join the events of this week, looked to have wrecked his hopes - and damaged his legacy into the bargain.

And yet the two men have an extraordinarily warm personal relationship that has endured throughout the diplomatic sabrerattling. Mr Bush summarised their relationship when he told a recent White House press conference: “Putin is a straightforward, pretty tough character when it comes to his interests. Well, so am I. And we've had some head-butts, diplomatic head-butts ... and yet, in spite of that, our differences of opinion, we still have got a cordial enough relationship to be able to deal with common threats and opportunities.”

They first found some unlikely common ground in that both had named their two daughters after their respective mothers and mothers-in-law. “We share our love for our families,” said Mr Bush. “We've got common interests. And from that basis we will seize the moment to make a difference in the world.”

The leaders' personal bond was cemented after the September 11 attacks. Mr Bush underlined his gratitude by making Mr Putin the first head of state to be invited to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, in November 2001. Tony Blair had to wait another five months for the same honour.

Mr Bush and his wife Laura attended the 300th anniversary celebrations of St Petersburg, Mr Putin's home city, in June 2003. Despite the evident strains over the war in Iraq, Mr Putin declared that they remained close on many issues

Mr Putin has made four trips to America. Critics say that all the bonhomie has done little to achieve anything concrete in US-Russia relations.

A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official said, however, that if nothing else, it had prevented their total collapse.

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