MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin was counting his gains on Sunday after a much-hyped Russia-U.S. summit that probably strengthened him internationally but left things still finely balanced in Russia's relations with the United States.

In three days of formal and informal meetings with his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, Putin signed a Disarmament Treaty that is to slash Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals by two thirds over the next decade and concluded a strategic partnership agreement.

However analysts were left wondering if the summit had been much more than a highly successful public relations exercise.

Among the political benefits Putin can claim to offset the string of concessions he has made to Washington over the past year is Moscow's apparent recovery of its status as a privileged interlocutor, AFP reported.

He can also point to the signing of a legally binding treaty on disarmament rather than the loose accord that the White House was said to have preferred.

State-dominated media made great play of the bonhomie displayed by the two leaders, which they say will form the basis of a burgeoning partnership between the sole remaining superpower and its former cold war adversary.

Both leaders were at pains to play up the results of the summit.

"All the goals of the U.S. President's visit to Russia have been achieved," Putin said on Saturday, while for Bush, Russia and the United States were now "building a friendship based on shared interest".

Placing great emphasis on the issue of trust, Bush complimented Putin as a visionary who was leading his country out of decades of isolation and decline, and evoked the prospect of "incredible cooperation" between their two countries.

He was muted in his comments on Chechnya and press freedom, where White House spokesmen have in the past been outspokenly critical on Human Rights abuses and Kremlin media manipulation.

Only on Russian nuclear cooperation with Iran, which Washington suspects of attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, did Bush insist on reprimanding his host who, probably mindful of his home constituency, stood his ground on the issue.

Analysts observed that Bush was being careful not to damage Putin's position at home, where public opinion is altogether more dubious about the supposed benefits of the Russia-U.S. partnership and the military-diplomatic establishment is sharply divided over the westward slant of Putin's foreign policy.

Another prospective benefit was provided by the "new energy dialogue" signed by the presidents which, while reducing U.S. dependency on Middle East oil supplies, should also provide a major boost to the Russian economy and have massive long-term geostrategic repercussions.

However Russian hopes were dashed for economic gains in the form of an immediate lifting of the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment, 1974 us legislation denying Moscow favorable trade terms, and the granting of market economy status.

After giving way over a succession of U.S. demands, notably concerning its plans to mount an anti-missile defense shield, Putin is under pressure to show gains for his pro-Western foreign policy.

He said on Saturday of the arms reductions treaty that although "Pessimists will always find something wrong ...

the optimists will find something useful in the documents that we signed, and they (the optimists) will be right".

For independent analyst Pavel Felgenhauer, Putin's balancing act between the pro- and anti-Western wings in his foreign policy establishment remains finely poised, with several pitfalls, notably Iran, NATO's Eastward expansion and the Kaliningrad enclave, still to be negotiated.

"Although Putin's personal relationship with Bush is very important and he has certainly gained in stature, it was not a very successful summit apart from the hype," he said.

"In the material sense there was not much real progress. Russia is still on probation -- that's very obvious over Iran. and by saying he trusts Putin, Bush is in a way saying he doesn't trust Russia," he said.

Russia still had "a lot to do" before it became a U.S. ally. But the summit "Could prove to be a breakthrough if it is followed up by other moves," he said.