RUSSIAN AND BELARUSIAN PRESIDENTS PUTIN AND LUKASHENKO MEET IN ST PETERSBURG

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Belorussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko pose photographers before their meeting at the Konstantin Palace outside St. Petersburg, January 24, 2006. The two leaders discussed details of a political and economic union between the two former Soviet republics. (UPI Photo/Anatoli Zhdanov)