(The backstory behind George W. Bush's famous quote after meeting Putin for the first time)
"Before their first meeting in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, Putin studied an in-depth dossier on Bush, full of personal details.
Above all, he noted that Bush had been fond of alcohol in his youth, but at the age of forty he had quit drinking and become deeply religious.
So during the initial small talk at the meeting in Ljubljana, Putin told Bush a story about himself.
He had once had a dacha outside St. Petersburg, which a few years earlier had burned to the ground—fortunately none of his family had been hurt.
Miraculously, the only object to survive the fire was a crucifix given to him by his mother. The incident convinced him that miracles do happen, Putin concluded.
The God-fearing Bush was deeply affected. “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul,” he would say after that memorable first meeting."
from Mikhail Zygar's 'All the Kremlin's Men'
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1610397398/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_m0keAbGB6F2Y0