Although President George W. Bush once boasted that he walked with a Texan swagger, the leader with the proudest strut in St Petersburg this weekend was his host Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president displayed all the confidence that comes with 70 per cent-plus approval ratings and an economy growing at more than 6 per cent a year. He managed not just to parry the muted public criticisms of Russia’s democracy with cutting wisecracks at some of his counterparts, but to appear the most self-assured leader at the Constantine Palace.