The first summit of U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin was shaped by an indigenous American principle, "Keep smiling." Bush said he had looked the man in the eye and found him to be "very straightforward and trustworthy." Putin said he was looking forward to "a constructive dialogue." The talks, scheduled for half an hour, went on for 90 minutes.
A few minutes after the meeting started, Putin, having made sure he understood Bush's Southern drawl, decided he was ready for eye-to-eye conversation. The two presidents shed the interpreters and proceeded in an intimate, and slightly conspiratorial, manner. Afterward, they took an idyllic stroll through the Slovenian castle, which provided a picturesque setting for their debut conference. They even found time to joke about their mothers-in-law.
All those smiles and laughter were a sharp contrast to what had been expected. While the previous five days had been promising a stormy summit, for some reason the presidents chose not to make a big deal of their differences when they met face to face.