http://atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FF24Ag01.html
Finally, Kremlin-connected political consultant Stanislav Belkovskii told APN the day of Putin's Astana comments that the Kremlin wanted the US to pressure Qatar to release the two Russian secret-service agents currently on trial there for the February assassination of former acting Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. "It is possible that Vladimir Putin's support of US President George Bush was a condition for the Americans help in return in solving the 'Qatar problem'," Belkovskii said.

Although analysts were at a loss to come up with a definitive explanation of Putin's comments, they were unanimous in viewing it as an extraordinary and potentially momentous step, possibly as important as Putin's fabled telephone call to Bush immediately following the September 11 attacks. In the months after those attacks, Bush repeatedly reminded the world that Putin was the first global leader to express his solidarity with the United States, and those months marked the high point of US-Russian relations since Bush became president.