SAINT PETERSBURG, May 31: US President George Bush met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time since their row over Iraq as both sides tried to brush over trans-Atlantic tensions sparked by the campaign.

After a brief visit to the former Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz and Poland’s former royal capital Krakow, Bush attended a dinner hosted by Mr Putin at which he shook hands and exchanged a few words with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for the first time since the war.

Both Bush and Putin — along with French President Jacque Chirac and Schroeder — in separate interviews tried to put the Iraqi divisions behind them ahead of a formal Group of Eight summit on Monday in Evian, France.

But while Bush, looking slightly tired as he stepped off the plane while accompanied by his wife Laura, may have ended some of the tensions with Schroeder, the French leader Chirac pointedly left Saint Petersburg just before the US leader’s arrival.

“It was Bush who approached Schroeder” to exchange a few words, a German official told reporters.

The United States has been less upset with Russia for opposing the Iraq war and Mr Bush made it clear that his meeting with Putin was meant mainly as a trust-building exercise.

But US officials have also said that Russia’s nuclear cooperation with Iran will — as at previous summits — still top the agenda of Monday’s informal talks, expected to last for about two hours.

After Mr Putin completed showing off a laser and fireworks extravaganza on the city’s majestic Neva River to his European guests, he was due to host Bush for a private dinner Saturday evening.

Mr Putin worked hard at his summit with European leaders on Saturday to put the Iraq dispute behind him, praising president Bush for agreeing to seek a compromise over a United Nations resolution lifting sanctions on Iraq on May 22.

“Adopting the latest resolution allows us to bring this issue back to the UN platform,” Mr Putin told reporters after the EU-Russia talks.

“I would also like to note that the United States also moved (towards Russia’s position) and I would like to especially thank the work done by President Bush.—AFP