US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are all set to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday, a first in over two years, after they both make their respective speeches at its 70th session.
This will be Putin's first address at the UNGA debate in 10 years.
The last time Obama and Putin had held a bilateral meeting was in June 2013 in Ireland on the sidelines of the G8 summit, and since then US-Russia relations have only deteriorated over the worsening situations in Ukraine and Syria.
Ahead of their bilateral meeting, a political tussle has broken out over who sent the invitation for the bilateral meet and what will be the main point of discussion.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest had said last week that Putin had sent a request to Obama for a bilateral meeting in New York as the leaders arrive for the UNGA.
"President Obama does look forward to meeting with President Putin -- at his request, at President Putin's request -- next week," Earnest had said in a press briefing.
The White House spokesperson also said that Ukraine will top the agenda, with Obama likely to push Putin to stick to the Minsk agreement reached earlier this year.
However, Russia hit back at the US claims with their own version of the event.
"Since the American side has decided to present its version, which distorts what happened...I will point out straight away that the statement by the White House Press Secretary (Josh) Earnest that the Russian president sought the meeting, repeatedly asked about its organisation, does not correspond to the truth," Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov told the media last week, Reuters reported.
It was the Obama administration that approached Moscow, the Kremlin official said.
He also reportedly said that Putin and Obama will focus their discussion on the Syrian civil war, with Ukraine likely to be a 'minor' subject.
Obama will have a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Putin and Obama will then attend a lunch hosted by the UN Secretary General. After that, President Obama will convene a summit on the UN peacekeeping forces.
Following these events and meetings, Obama and Putin will finally sit down face to face for talks in what could likely change the face of the war against the Isis and the future of Ukraine.
You can watch Obama and Putin's speeches at the 70th session of the UNGA in the video below:
