Three years ago, during the Tsarist capital’s 300th anniversary, Putin hosted some 40 heads of state, ranging from George W. Bush and Gerhard Schroeder to Belarusian dictator Alexandar Lukashenka and Turkmenistan’s Saparmyrat Nyazov, who styles himself “Turkmenbashi,” the father of Turkmen. Human rights activists questioned the wisdom of endorsing the leader of a growingly authoritarian Russia.