Putin and Obama
Greet With Smiles and Handshake
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=37973
ST. PETERSBURG
(AP) — President Vladimir Putin welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama with a
smile and a handshake to the Group of 20 summit, in one of the most closely
watched greetings of international diplomacy.
The 15-second
exchange at the entrance to St. Petersburg's grand Konstantinovsky Palace drew
widespread media attention as a potential telltale sign of relations between
the U.S. and Russia.
The exchange was
their only planned one-on-one appearance at the summit in the midst of tensions
between the two leaders over Syria and Russia's granting of asylum to U.S.
intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. Obama had planned to hold talks with Putin
before the summit but canceled them over Snowden and a lack of progress on key
bilateral issues.
As Obama shook
hands and smiled broadly, he thanked his host and nodded toward the palace,
pronouncing it "beautiful."
Obama arrived in
his armored limousine, unlike other summit leaders who rode in G20 Mercedes
cars.
Syria and BRICS
Mark Start of G20 Summit
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=37972
A military strike
in Syria would have a destructive effect on the global economy, sending oil
prices up, China warned in a gesture of support to President Vladimir Putin,
the host of the Group of 20 summit that began in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
"Military action would have a negative
impact on the global economy, especially on the oil price. It will cause a hike
in the oil price," China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told
journalists ahead of the summit, Reuters reported.
China sided with
Russia's position on possible military intervention in Syria, with Putin
claiming that a U.S.-supported strike must be based on clear evidence that the
Syrian government is responsible for an alleged chemical attack in the country
on Aug. 21.
Although not on
the official agenda, the Syrian conflict was on everybody's lips, overshadowing
the economic agenda at the two-day summit held in Strelna, a suburb of the
country's northern capital.
Leaders of the
world's 20 major economies gathered in the 18th century Constantine Palace to
discuss issues like stimulating global economic growth, ensuring financial
stability, fighting against corruption and tax evasion.
Before the summit
kicked off, the International Monetary Fund called for the G20 nations to join
forces to stimulate growth of the global economy amid a possible rise of
financial instability that might be caused by the wind down of the U.S. Federal
Reserve's large-scale bond-buying program.
The move could
hit emerging countries especially hard, which might see their economies slowing
down, the organization warned in a note prepared for the G20 that was cited by
Reuters.
The announcement
by the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in May that later this year the
U.S. could end its program of buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month
caused a massive sell off of emerging markets' currencies and securities.
In an effort to
withstand a future shake-up of their currency markets, Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa — known as the BRICS countries — agreed to create a $100
billion currency pool, with each country contributing to the fund.
At the meeting
with other BRICS leaders Thursday, Putin said the establishment of the fund had
entered its "final stage." He said that Russia would contribute along
with the other BRICS nations but did not elaborate on the sum, according to the
Kremlin's website.
Russia, Brazil
and India will each channel $18 billion to the fund, while China, which holds
the world's largest foreign currency reserves, will give $41 billion, Interfax
reported, citing a statement released after the meeting of the BRICS leaders.
South Africa will contribute $5 billion.
Meanwhile,
uncertainty remains over the other priority issue for the BRICS nations — the
reform of the IMF quota system that Russia said had failed to be resolved
during its G20 presidency.
"This is the
field where we failed to achieve the results that we had expected at the
beginning of our presidency," Andrei Bokarev, head of the Finance
Ministry's department for international financial relations told a news
conference Thursday.
The reason for
the delay is that the earlier agreements on the IMF reform, reached at the G20
summit in Seoul back in 2010, have not been fully enforced, Bokarev said,
Interfax reported. He added that the issue would remain on the agenda of
Russia's G20 presidency, as the quota-revising deadline of Jan. 1 is looming.
As the emerging
countries seek to gain greater decision making power in the organization, Putin
urged IMF member states "to look for a balanced compromise decision on
redistribution of quotas."
Putin also called
for a joint approach to returning the global economy to the path of sustainable
growth.
"Unfortunately,
this goal hasn't been achieved yet, meaning that systemic risks and conditions
for a severe crisis relapse remain," Putin said at the first session of
the summit.
He outlined a
number of measures envisaged in the final plan on ensuring economic growth to
be approved by the G20 leaders, saying that one mid- and long-term priority is
cutting the size of sovereign debt and reducing budget deficits.
Putin elaborated
on his earlier statement that big budget deficits drove countries to increase
borrowings. In an interview with The Associated Press and Russian broadcaster
Channel One earlier this week, he pushed for moderate government spending in
Russia.
He claimed,
however, that dramatic budget cuts are unlikely.
Putin's comments
were echoed by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov who proposed that budget
spending be reduced by 5 percent in 2014-15 — a "maneuver" that would
allow Russia to save money and bring priority plans to fruition.
The Finance
Ministry is pushing for an across the board 5 percent reduction of expenses in
government ministries and agencies over the next two years, Siluanov told state
television Rossia 24, Interfax reported Thursday.
The cuts would
not affect entitlements like retirement pensions and student scholarships, he
said.
Speaking at a
news conference ahead of the G20 summit, he also pushed for ending the
maternity incentive starting in 2016.
In a move to
improve the demographic situation, the government decided to provide financial
incentives to families having two or more children during the period 2007-15,
with each family getting a one-time payment, which in 2013 is 408,960 rubles.
As the Finance
Ministry seeks to trim budget spending, it allied with economic experts last
month to draft a proposal allowing for savings of up to 1.1 trillion rubles
over the next three years. The proposed measures included reviewing costs in
the pension system and the public sector, as well as not extending the
maternity incentive program.
The last point,
Siluanov said, was a "sensitive topic" and required careful
consideration. The possibility of withdrawing the support to large families is
already creating a negative reaction by most Russians.
Strelna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelna
photos
https://www.google.hr/search?q=konstantinovsky+palace&client=opera&hs=M4y&channel=suggest&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=oYEnUqenJ4qSswamt4GACA&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=651
Marble Hall of
Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna. Saint Petersburg, Russia
http://www.asergeev.com/pictures/archives/compress/2004/404/12.htm
Government
Putin and Obama Meet in Russia…for 15 Seconds (And There
Are Pictures)
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/05/putin-and-obama-meet-in-russia-for-15-seconds/
President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin
had only a very brief interaction outside Konstantinovsky
Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia,
where leaders of the world’s top economic power gathered for the G20 meeting.
After getting out of the limo, Obama and Putin shook hands
and appeared to exchange small talk, but the U.S. president was inside the
building within 15 seconds, according to the White House pool report. The pool
report said the two appeared pleasant with one another despite a public spat
over a number of issues.
The White House announced in July that there would be no
bilateral meeting between the two leaders at the G20 meeting in Russia, as
would be customary when the two leaders are in the same country.
Putin and Obama have had a rift, most recently over the
coming U.S. attack on Syria in response to Syrian President Bashar
Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons on his people that U.S.
intelligence said killed 1,429 people. Putin has supported the Assad regime and
has blocked international efforts against him.
But prior to that, the two were at odds when the Russian
government granted one year asylum to former National Security Agency
contractor Edward Snowden, now a fugitive facing U.S. espionage charges for
leaking information about the NSA spying program to the media.
All of this despite the administration’s supposed “reset”
line with Russia
that was frequently talked about in the first Obama term.
Putin greeted each of the world leaders as they arrived.
Other leaders exited their limo and were in the building
within 10 seconds, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Putin talked longer
and were laughing, according to the pool report, which said no one was talking
loud enough to determine what was said.
“We have nothing formally scheduled with President Putin in
terms of a bilateral meeting,” White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben
Rhodes told reporters. “However, it’s always the case at these summits that
leaders end up sitting next to each other; they end up having side
conversations. So I certainly anticipate the president will have interactions
with President Putin even as we don’t have a formal meeting scheduled and we’ll
keep you updated on those conversations.”
One reporter referred to an earlier Putin interview. “Did
the President hear anything in Putin’s interview that indicated any change of
posture? And what will he say to Putin on these pull-asides when he sees him?”
Rhodes stressed that the
two presidents have worked well on other issues.
“The U.S.-Russian relationship is very broad,” Rhodes said. “Even with the differences we’ve had — sharp
differences on Syria —
there’s continued cooperation on nuclear security issues, on transit in Afghanistan, on
counterterrorism, and on global economic issues. So we will continue to address areas where we
can work with the Russians.”
Rhodes added he expected Russia would continue to be an
obstacle at the United Nations.
“Syria is
an area where, even as we’ve had sharp differences, we believe Russia in the long term can be a part of a
political process to bring the Assad regime to the table,” Rhodes
said. “What we are highly skeptical of is the notion that Russia will take a different view at the
Security Council — because for two years what we’ve seen is several Russia vetoes
of Security Council resolutions that aimed to express disapproval or hold the
Assad regime accountable. So thus far,
we have not seen any evidence that Russia is taking a different
approach towards the Syrian issue at the U.N. Security Council. Were they to do
so, of course it’s our preference always to work through the U.N. Security
Council on these issues, but we haven’t seen any change in the Russian position
at the U.N. and are skeptical that given the current environment and given
their relationship with Assad, we’re skeptical that that change is
forthcoming.”
Obama’s first meeting was with Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe. Each leader made a public statement to media before going into the
bilateral meeting.
Abe’s focused only only economic matters, while Obama also
addressed two national security concerns – North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and
of course Syria.
“During the meeting, we’ll also have an opportunity to
discuss a range of security issues, including our continued concern about the
nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the importance of North Korea
abiding by international law,” Obama said.
“I also look forward to having an extensive conversation
about the situation in Syria
and I think our joint recognition that the use of chemical weapons in Syria is not
only a tragedy but also a violation of international law that must be
addressed,” Obama added.