ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama faced growing pressure from Russia’s Vladimir Putin and other world leaders yesterday to decide against launching military strikes in Syria, which many of them fear would hurt the global economy and push up oil prices.
At a summit of the Group of 20 (G20) developed and developing economies in St. Petersburg, Putin greeted Obama with a thin smile and a businesslike handshake, a clear sign of the strains between them over how to respond to a chemical weapons attack in Syria.
Obama also wore a stiff smile before talks began over dinner on the world economy and then on Syria, and there was none of the arm clutching or hugs between the two presidents that is typical of such occasions.