Putin hopes meeting Obama at G20 summit in St. Petersburg

Russian president voiced hope he meets his US counterpart Barack Obama at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg due in early September. Speaking to reporters in Vladivostok city near the China border, Vladimir Putin, asserted that president Obama will be among the participants in the summit noting that he discussed the syrian issue with Obama on the G8 summit held in Northern Ireland last June . Elaborating President Putin said he and his US peer agreed to help convene the Geneva 2 conference for bringing about a political settlement to the syrian crisis with the participation of both the Syrian government and the opposition. Putin meantime has demanded that the United States provide any evidence of the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians to the UN Security Council.  Putin told journalists that the proof should be shown to UN inspectors and the Security Council, adding that it would be "utter nonsense" for the Syrian government to have used such weapons. "Syrian government troops are on the offensive and have surrounded the opposition in several regions. In these conditions, to give a trump card to those who are calling for a military intervention is utter nonsense," Putin said. Meanwhile a senior US administration official said on Friday that a bilateral meeting between presidents of Russia and the United States is not on the agenda of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg. "At this time there is no bilateral meeting or pull-aside expected between the presidents, although the US president and President Putin are going to have many opportunities to engage during the course of the G20 session" the official said. Barack Obama cancelled his scheduled meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, planned for early September, after Russia gave temporary asylum to US intelligence leaker Edward Showden. Relations between Moscow and Washington were further strained by differences over last weeks reported chemical weapons attack in Syria. The Syrian issue will undoubtedly be raised by the G20 leaders during the summit, the White House official said. "There’s, at this point, no formal session or event that would involve Syria, but we know that leaders will be talking about it," he said.