Just two decades ago, relations between the US and Russia were so friendly that Vladimir Putin took George W Bush out to celebrate his birthday at a floating restaurant in St Petersburg.
The Russian president had been in office for just over two years and the West was still optimistic that the youthful leader would usher in a new era for the former Soviet Union.
Then-president Bush famously claimed to have looked into Putin's eye and glimpsed his soul, declaring him "very straightforward and trustworthy".
