Russian President met heads of former Soviet states on Friday as world leaders gathered to mark his hometown's anniversary

Russian President Vladimir Putin met heads of former Soviet states on Friday as world leaders gathered to mark his hometown's anniversary, a sumptuous event that may salve lingering ill-feeling over the Iraq war. The three days of meetings in St Petersburg that will bring together over 40 presidents and prime ministers will be the first time all the key players in the bitter debate over Iraq have met since U.S. troops invaded in March. U.S. President George W. Bush, who holds a separate meeting with Putin on Sunday, struck a conciliatory tone before leaving for Europe, saying there would be no confrontation with France and other countries like Russia that had opposed the war. But, at the same time, he said "a sense of frustration and disappointment" persisted among the American people at Paris for leading the opposition to a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have authorised military force against Iraq. French President Jacques Chirac and his anti-war partner German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, as well as British Prime Minister Tony Blair who gave Washington military backing on Iraq, will be among those attending the $1.5 billion party Putin has thrown for the 300th anniversary of the old tsarist capital. As Putin met leaders from 11 other former Soviet states to kick off celebrations, Russian security forces moved into high gear to head off possible terrorist threats to the huge concentration of world dignitaries. Police boarded boats moored along the Neva River before Putin met fellow leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States on board a luxury cruise liner hired from the Bahamas.