Obama and Putin to butt heads over Syria at G20 summit

The United States’ potential military strike on Syria is predicted to dominate talks at this year’s G20 summit, which will be held by Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

The summit’s 20 members comprise about 90% of the global GDP and include the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, according to Policy Mic.

Although the G20 summit typically focuses on global economic issues, the event will take place shortly after Obama announced a possible military strike against Syrian President Bashar Assad due to an alleged chemical attack on August 21.

Putin, a long-time supporter of Assad’s regime, has dismissed Obama’s claims that the Syrian government authorized the use of chemical weapons as “utter nonsense,” reports Reuters.

Obama and Putin have long differed over the conflict in Syria, and their relations became even more strained last month when Russia granted former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden a year’s asylum.

"One thing is clear to me, that this is the worst personal relationship between U.S. and Russian — perhaps even U.S. and Soviet — leaders in history," Andrew Kuchins, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told USA Today.

The two leaders are likely to use the summit to push their own agendas on Syria. The forum offers Obama a final opportunity to win over its members and garner international support before Congress returns on September 9 to vote on the military strike.

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