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US President arrives in St. Petersburg to take part in G20 summit

Obama arrived in St. Petersburg from Stockholm
Photo EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV
Photo EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV

ST PETERSBURG, September 5 (Itar-Tass) - US President Barack Obama has arrived in St. Petersburg to take part in the G20 summit.

Obama arrived in St. Petersburg from Stockholm. The US President decided to visit Sweden after he postponed the trip to Moscow.

At Pulkovo Airport he was welcomed by the city government and diplomats.

During the summit, Obama is expected to have several bilateral meetings. The exact schedule of his meetings is still unknown.

No bilateral meeting with Putin

Earlier, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the presidents of both countries were not planning to meet within the summit.

Peskov said Putin and Obama “will have a talk” within the G20 summit in St Petersburg.

However, Peskov said, “No separate meeting is being planned.”

The spokesman said the Russian and US presidents would have an opportunity to talk with each other because they would attend the sessions of the summit.

A good and easy partner to negotiate with

Ahead of the G20 summit Putin said he believed that his US colleague was a good and easy partner to negotiate with. His position is understandable and it is interesting to work with him, the Russian President said.

“Our talks are always very constructive, very content-intensive and quite frank. In this regard, the US President is a very good and easy partner to negotiate with, because it is clear that he wants, his position is understandable. He is listening to the position of his partner in talks, his opponent and responds to it. It is interesting for me to work with him,” Putin said.

“I’m sure that if we meet within the summit or on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the meeting itself will be useful,” the Russian President said.

“We have many issues, which should be resolved. This is disarmament, as well as the issues related to the development of the world economy, North Korea, Iran’s problem and the fight against terrorism,” Putin said.

At the same time, Putin said the talk with Obama would not be easy. “We realize that the US Administration is irritated by Russia’s position on certain issues. But there’s nothing to be d one,” he said, adding, “I believe that it would be good to be patient and work on searching for solutions.”

For his part, Obama recognized that the United States and Russia had deep disagreements on the situation around Syria.

The press service of the US delegation to the summit said that Barack Obama intends to give a briefing for journalists in the framework of the summit on September 6.

Where Obama will live during the G20 Summit

No concrete information was available yet as to where the US delegation will be accommodated. A VIP cottage has been reserved for the U.S. president in the Consular Village of the Palace of Congresses in Strelna, but it was not known yet whether Barack Obama would actually stay there. The information as to which of the twenty VIP cottages is intended for the US President was not disclosed.

During the G8 summit held in Strelna in 2006 Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, stayed at the Astrakhan cottage.

The consular village in Strelna numbers 20 cottages which have an identical architectural style and interior decorations. The only difference between them are the emblems of Russian cities on the front side and the subjects reflected in the decor of every cottage meant to symbolize a region in Russia after which the cottage was named.