Bush urged to give Putin the cold shoulder

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Bush urged to give Putin the cold shoulder

President George W. Bush may give Vladimir Putin the cold shoulder when the Russian president hosts the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg if hardliners in the US win a policy battle over how to respond to what they see as Moscow's increasingly wayward behaviour.

While there is no doubt the US president will attend the July summit, despite calls by Republican senator John McCain, and others, for a boycott, Mr Putin could be on the receiving end of what is called the "minimalist approach".

"There is a push for the president to do the bare minimum in St Petersburg," said Nikolas Gvosdev, editor of the National Interest, a publication of the Nixon Center think-tank that promotes a "realistic" US approach to Russia.

This would mean no "chumminess" with Mr Putin, such as private dinners, and could involve a side-trip to a former Soviet satellite as a platform for a speech on democracy. Viktor Yushchenko has invited Mr Bush to Kiev, but that visit might come in June, provided the president of Ukraine has formed a coalition government.