Amid Tensions, Obama And Putin Put On A Happy Face During Appearance At G-20
By JULIE PACE | ASSOCIATED PRESS | 9 minutes ago in World
President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin shook hands, smiled and made small talk about the scenery on Thursday _ a public exchange of pleasantries belying a tense relationship that only seems to be getting worse.
"We've kind of hit a wall," Obama said of the United States' ties with Russia the day before he arrived in St. Petersburg for a global summit.
With tensions mounting over issues including Syria, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, and human rights, Obama and Putin did not plan to hold a formal bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 gathering. A formal greeting outside St. Petersburg's Constantine Palace was their only planned one-on-one public appearance.
Parsing the body language between Obama and Putin has become something of a geopolitical parlor game every time the two leaders meet. But there wasn't much to work with this time: Their exchange lasted 15 seconds.
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