http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/obama-gets-a-sense-of-putins-super-villain-soul/
“Vladimir Putin ... has a knack for making first impressions. In 2001, he showed President George W. Bush his mother’s crucifix to give Dubya a sense of his soul; the same year, he surprised Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliyev by presenting Aliyev with his 1949 graduation certificate from Leningrad’s KGB academy. He also knows how to make a thoughtful gift: Putin gave canine-averse German Chancellor Angela Merkel a toy dog.”