Vladimir Putin coolly welcomed President Obama to Russia with a forced smile yesterday, shrugging off their bitter differences over Syria — even as the Kremlin sent more warships toward the war-torn nation.
Three more Russian ships are headed to the Mediterranean, nearly doubling Putin’s fleet there, “primarily” in case Russians have to be evacuated from Syria during US airstrikes, the Kremlin said.
Putin also is bringing in the big guns: His only operational aircraft carrier will visit a Russian naval base in Syria later this year, a Russian newspaper disclosed yesterday.
The warlike announcements came as Putin and Obama had an awkward-looking handshake, pretended to smile at one another and engaged in small talk for 15 seconds for photographers when Obama arrived for the G20 summit in St. Petersburg.
“Beautiful,” Obama said as the Russian president greeted him at a czarist palace.
It was the first time the two men had spoken face to face in months — and it came after Russian officials maneuvered behind the scenes to keep them far apart at the summit.
According to summit protocol, the world leaders were supposed to be seated according to the alphabetical order of the countries they represent.
Thanks to the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia, that meant there would be only one person, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, in between Obama and Putin.
But the summit hosts changed their minds and decided to use the Latin alphabet. That meant five leaders, of South Africa, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Kingdom, would be seated in between them, the newspaper Izvestia reported.
When the summit began yesterday the seating order was apparently shuffled again. This time, Indonesia’s president and Australia’s foreign minister sat between Obama and Putin.
Instead of discussing weighty matters with Putin, Obama was seen talking to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on his other side — and trying to deal with Brazilian anger over disclosures that the National Security Agency was spying on Rousseff.
The bitterness between Obama and Putin was evident in the United States, where administration officials blasted the Russian president’s foot-dragging on Syria.
The State Department said it was “preposterous” for Putin to accuse Secretary of State John Kerry of “lying” about al Qaeda’s role among Syrian rebels.
“Secretary Kerry is, as you all know, a decorated combat veteran,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, referring to Kerry’s service during the Vietnam War. “He’s had . . . more than words aimed at him.
“So he’s not losing sleep after such a preposterous comment that was based on an inaccurate quote and was completely mischaracterized,” she said.
At the United Nations, US Ambassador Samantha Power used decidedly undiplomatic language to lash Putin for threatening to veto any Security Council action to punish the Bashar al-Assad regime for killing more than 1,400 of his own people with poison gas.
“Even in the wake of the flagrant shattering of the international norm against chemical weapons use, Russia continues to hold the council hostage and shirk its international responsibilities,” she said.
Her remarks made it clear that the Obama administration was done working with the UN on Syria.
But Putin put Syria on the back burner when the summit began. “I suggest we do this during dinner so that we . . . in the first part can discuss the problems we gathered here for,” he told the delegates of the economic summit.
Meanwhile, it appeared Obama can’t even keep jarheads in Congress aboard on his plan to attack Syria.
Rep. Mike Grimm (R-SI), a Marine who fought in Operation Desert Storm and just days ago publicly backed Obama’s call to arms, yesterday yanked his support.
“After much thought, deliberation and prayer, I am no longer convinced that a US strike on Syria will yield a benefit to the United States that will not be greatly outweighed by the extreme cost of war,” said Grimm.
He said Obama had squandered his chance to strike and Staten Island voters had let Grimm know they “strongly oppose unilateral action at a time when we have so many needs here at home.”
Grimm’s change of position underscored how quickly Obama’s support is eroding in Congress.
“I cannot vote for war,” declared Rep. Jose Serrano (D-Bronx), calling it “war” despite Obama’s insistence that he’s proposing limited missile strikes.
Every constituent call about Syria to Serrano’s office has been against US involvement, said a Serrano spokesman.
Obama must work fast to build support or suffer an embarrassing defeat, which would force him to either order strikes in defiance of Congress or else accept his fate as a weak president.
A Senate vote on a resolution authorizing the use of force has been set for Wednesday, the anniversary of 9/11, a date likely picked in an attempt to tap patriotic support for the president. The House has not yet scheduled a vote.
The president’s supporters are calling for him to address the nation next week to personally make the case for military strikes.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she will support the resolution.
“There’s no question what’s coming in is overwhelmingly negative,” she said of the calls into her office. “But they haven’t heard [the intelligence briefings] that I’ve heard.”
The comment prompted Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem), who opposes the war resolution, to launch an intraparty attack.
“She’s a senator from the almost People’s Republic of California,” he said.