US President George W. Bush met Mr Vladimir Putin today and said he had told the Russian president about his concerns over democracy in Russia.
After a summit in Slovakia, both leaders stressed their close ties and common ground and Mr Bush said they shared the goal that neither Iran nor North Korea should have nuclear weapons.
But Mr Bush - who had set the tone for the meeting by predicting a march of democracy across Russia's ex-Soviet backyard - said strong countries needed to be democratic.
"Democracies have certain things in common - a rule of law and protection of minorities and a free press and a viable political opposition," he told a joint news conference. "I was able to share my concerns about Russia's commitment in fulfilling these universal principles. I did so in a constructive and friendly way."
The meeting comes amid growing concern in the West that Mr Putin is backsliding on democracy, with critics saying his tough policies towards opponents have curbed true democracy.
Mr Putin said Western fears were unfounded. "Russia has made its choice in favour of democracy," he said. "Any return to totalitarianism ... would be impossible."
The leaders have warm personal ties and put a brave face on differences as they stood side by side at Bratislava Castle, the final stage of Mr Bush's fence-mending trip to Europe.
Addressing 4,000 people in a central square in snow-bound Bratislava earlier, Mr Bush praised democratic change that swept ex-communist Eastern Europe over a decade ago and was now spreading to ex-Soviet republics. "The advance of freedom is the concentrated work of generations," he said.
"It took almost a decade after the (1989) Velvet Revolution for democracy to fully take root in this country. And the democratic revolutions that swept this region over 15 years ago are now reaching Georgia and Ukraine," he told a cheering crowd.
Mr Bush said elections in Moldova could aid democracy in the ex-Soviet Union and even isolated Belarus would one day fall into the democratic fold. The ex-Soviet Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joined the European Union last year, along with Slovakia and much of formerly Soviet-dominated eastern Europe.
Mr Bush won his first warm public reception on his four-day European tour in Bratislava, underscoring different attitudes to the United States between "old" European Union members such as France and Germany and newcomers from the east. His speech met frequent applause, apparently encouraging him to immerse in the crowd after his speech to shake hands.
Picking Bratislava for the final stop on his tour, Mr Bush showed gratitude for support from new EU members in Iraq after spending three days mending fences with war critics to the west. US and Russian officials announced deals on safeguarding nuclear materials and increasing nuclear security cooperation, as well as on limiting the spread of shoulder-fired missiles.
The US hopes to forge more of a common front with Russia on dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions after ironing out some of the differences on the issue with the Europeans.
In a sign Mr Bush and leaders of France and Germany were ready to bury the hatchet over Iraq and re-forge the transatlantic alliance, the US president said he was "on the same page" as the Europeans in seeking a diplomatic solution over Iran.
In a concession to the Europeans, Mr Bush made clear he may consider their suggestion of offering incentives to Tehran in return for abandoning any plans to build a nuclear bomb. "Hopefully we'll be able to reach a diplomatic solution," he said. "I know we're all on the same page on this issue."