PRAGUE — St. Petersburg is a great place in early summer, when the "White Nights" bathe the city's imperial palaces and avenues. Small wonder, then, that Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to show off his hometown.
Three years ago, during the czarist capital's 300th anniversary, Putin hosted some 40 heads of state, ranging from U.S. President George W. Bush and then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to Belarusian dictator Alexandar Lukashenka and Turkmenistan's Saparmyrat Nyazov, who styles himself "Turkmenbashi," the father of Turkmen. Human-rights activists questioned the wisdom of endorsing the leader of a growingly authoritarian Russia. Yet Putin managed simultaneously to celebrate his anti-Iraq war cooperation with Europe, have the United States swallow this, and be recognized in front of his local minions as a world leader.
This summer, St. Petersburg (dubbed by local wits "St. Putinsburg") may see a repeat performance: Russia will preside over a G8 summit for the first time, despite increasing authoritarianism, the ongoing bloody war in Chechnya, and now support for Iran's nuclear program.
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