Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, dashed around Russia's former imperial capital, attending a blizzard of events ranging from the formal to merely entertaining.
The Russian leader had intended to pull out all the stops to impress his guests, but the first day of the top-level celebrations was marred by at times heavy rain, which forced a change in the elaborate welcoming ceremony.
Putin had planned to greet his guests at the statue of Czar Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg, and walk with them to St. Isaac's Cathedral, but the photo opportunity was ruined by rain, with presidents and prime ministers transported in limousines.
Almost a million dollars had been budgeted for planes to seed clouds in a bid to drive away the rain during the festivities, but meteorologists said the storm, coming in from the Baltic Sea, was too massive to clear.
In further bad news for Putin, several officials failed to show at the last minute. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar decided to skip the party after terrorists exploded car bombs in northern Spain, and opera singer Placido Domingo, who was supposed to be one of the star attractions at an evening concert for the world leaders, sent word that he was too ill to perform.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II, who had planned to greet 45 world leaders, was also unable to attend because of health problems.
Putin's program for today included bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who avoided the tense subject of the disputed Kuril Islands in favor of a discussion of judo, black-belt Putin's favorite sport.
After holding a round of talks, both leaders visited a martial arts school.
Putin found time to host an informal summit meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States aboard a luxury cruise liner anchored on the Neva River off the English Embankment.
All 12 CIS leaders had planned to attend, but at the last minute Azerbaijan's ailing 80-year-old President Geidar Aliyev called in sick and sent his prime minister instead.
Officials close to the talks told United Press International that Putin had successfully negotiated the subject of Russian peacekeepers in Georgia's separatist territory of Abkhazia, with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze agreeing on an extended presence of the Russian force in the republic.
The CIS presidents obviously got into the party spirit, sending Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma alone to represent them at the briefest of press conferences.
Putin also held brief talks with French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other leaders.
President Bush, expected to join the gathering Saturday, today dismissed media reports that the United States might launch an attack on Iran as "pure speculation."
In an interview with Russia's state-owned Rossiya television network in Moscow, Bush shot down intense media speculation that Washington might be preparing for regime change by force in either Iran or Syria.
"We've had all kinds of reports that we're going to use force in Syria and now some are, I guess, saying force in Iran, force here and force there," Bush said.
"This is pure speculation. We used force in Iraq after a long, long period of diplomacy," the U.S. president said, adding the reports were nothing more than "idle speculation."
The Bush administration has expressed serious concerns over Russia's continuing nuclear cooperation with Iran, and the subject will feature prominently during Bush's summit with Putin in St. Petersburg this weekend. Russia has insisted it will continue working on Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr despite U.S. fears that a transfer of sensitive technology that could aid Iran's military programs may take place.
On Thursday, Russian media reported that Azerbaijan had agreed to allow the United States use of its air bases to launch an attack on neighboring Iran, prompting speculation amid growing anti-Iranian rhetoric in Washington. The United States and Azerbaijan dismissed the report.
In St. Petersburg, security is at an unprecedented level, as entire parts of the city are closed to all but residents able to prove their right to enter their own houses.
The airport and seaport are closed to all but official delegation traffic, and traffic has been brought to a virtual standstill in many parts of the sprawling city of 5 million people, as Petersburgers were advised to skip town for a long weekend while the official tercentennial celebration is attended by world VIPs.
With the threat of terrorism at such a high-profile gathering high, Russia's secret service agencies have been placed on high alert, as entire platoons of marksmen have been brought in from other regions.
An 800-strong detachment of U.S. Secret Service agents has reportedly arrived in St. Petersburg ahead of Bush's visit, establishing a base at the plush Astoria hotel in the heart of the former imperial capital.
Toward the evening, the guests arrived at the glittering Mariinsky Theater for a gala performance including opera and ballet. Mariinsky's prima ballerina Uliana Lopatkina is among the stars scheduled to perform.
Saturday will see an informal summit of the leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial states, ahead of Sunday's formal G-8 summit in Evian, France, while the rest of the day will be devoted to the city's anniversary as Putin shows his guests the best St. Petersburg, Russia's culture capital, has to offer.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
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