RUSSIAN AND BELARUSIAN PRESIDENTS PUTIN AND LUKASHENKO MEET IN ST PETERSBURG

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with his Belorussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko 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)