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The relationship between U.S. President George Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has been historic in its warmth. Some assert it may even be epoch-making. "To see the kind of relationship that presidents Bush and Putin have developed and to see Russia firmly anchored in the west, that's really a dream of 300 years, not just of the post-cold war era," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said when still merely Bush's national security adviser.
Since that comment, made in May 2002, the relationship has become more strained. Washington has looked increasingly askance at Moscow's record on democracy and its relationships with countries like Iran and Syria; Moscow has looked critically at the U.S. invasion of Iraq, with uncertainty at the U.S. military presence in the region and cried foul as revolutions have swept leaders out of office in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. Yet the ties that undoubtedly bind the two -- energy, trade, nuclear weapons, and geopolitical concerns -- are extensive and compelling. With both presidents due to bow out at roughly the same time, histories of the period will always link their names, ensuring that these two men will define a key period of the U.S.-Russian relationship.
In this special report, RFE/RL records and analyses the progress and the tensions in the U.S.-Russia relationship since 2001.
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