President Putin has arrived at Okinawa with an impressive record of recent achievement as the G8 summit's "new boy".
He came to Japan having achieved parliamentary approval for his plan to centralise power in the Kremlin. He has also struck an alliance with his Chinese counterpart, Mr Jiang Zemin, and appeared to convince the formerly intransigent North Korean leader, Mr Kim Jong-Il, to offer a compromise on his country's missile development programme.
But while all may look well on the surface, Mr Putin faces some disturbing undercurrents at home and abroad. The new "alliance" with China, for example, was accompanied by a joint statement in which the wording betrayed a feeling of overwhelming resentment against "a certain country", a phrase generally taken to be Chinese political shorthand for the United States.
In an economic crunch, however, China's response is likely to be pragmatic. Its successful economy is, after all, more dependent on trade with "a certain country" than any rediscovered emotional bond with its former ally in Moscow. As for the North Korea deal, Mr Kim's unpredictability raises a major question, for all Mr Putin's praise in calling him a "thoroughly modern" politician.
It is at home, however, that most difficulties are likely to arise. In the weeks leading up to the summit, Russia's authorities have carried out actions against the group of leading businessmen, known as the "oligarchs", in the style of an old-fashioned Soviet purge.
Masked tax police raided premises associated with many of the men whose wealth gave them political influence in the Yeltsin era. Among those under pressure in the latest moves are Mr Mikhail Fridman, of the successful Alfa banking group; Mr Vladimir Potanin, a former deputy prime minister turned billionaire; and Mr Anatoly Chubais, who presided over Russia's initial chaotic privatisation.
Again, the main target has been Mr Vladimir Gusinsky, whose media empire failed to support Mr Putin in the presidential elections. Mr Gusinsky, accused of fraud, has had his Media-Most headquarters raided on several times, has been imprisoned for a week without charge, has had his Russian property seized, and has been threatened with the loss of his real estate abroad. His NTV channel and daily newspaper Segodnya have, however, been able to continue their independent lines.
The response of the oligarchs has been unusual and almost in inverse ratio to the difficulties in which they find themselves. Most vociferous in his criticism of Mr Putin has been Mr Boris Berezovsky, whose business empire has suffered least so far.
In the course of the week, Mr Berezovsky has announced that he will resign his seat in parliament to dissociate himself from what he considers as Mr Putin's "increasingly authoritarian" rule.
In fact, Mr Berezovsky, according to insiders, heads one of the four interest groups which wield influence in Mr Putin's Kremlin. As a member of a clique known as "the family", with Mr Yeltsin's daughter, Ms Tatyana Dyachenko, and others, Mr Berezovsky has lodged a number of his supporters in Mr Putin's cabinet. A team of liberal economists and businessmen associated with Mr Putin in St Petersburg form a second group while his former colleagues from the KGB make up a third. The fourth set of influence-peddlers includes Mr Chubais and others, who were strong players in the Yeltsin era but whose power has been reduced considerably.
Mr Berezovsky's dramatic gesture in abandoning his parliamentary seat of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, and consequently his immunity against prosecution, has been supported by another sinister and immune oligarchcum-deputy, the petroleum magnate, Mr Boris Abramovich, who represents the reindeer herders of Chukotka in the Duma.
Of Mr Berezovsky's enterprises, only the almost moribund Avtovaz motor corporation has so far been targeted by tax police. There has, however, been a long-running, on-off investigation into his use of hard currency earned by the national airline Aeroflot. Mr Putin might hold this gun to Mr Berezovsky's head if the going gets tougher.