US President Barack Obama will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and French President Francois Hollande on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, taking place in Saint Petersburg, Russia at the end of the business week.

Syria will loom large over the meeting of the world’s 20 largest economies.  China has been against the US conducting a missile strike on Syria in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapon attack on civilians on 21 August; France wants to take part in any such attack.

The host, Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to use the summit for all it’s worth to oppose the US drive to attack Syria.

“It's not a substitute for the UN Security Council, it can't take decisions on the use of force.  But it's a good platform to discuss the problem.  Why not take advantage of this?” Putin said. 

“Is it in the United States' interests once again to destroy the international security system, the fundamentals of international law?  Will it strengthen the United States’ international standing?  Hardly.”

But there are no plans for a formal bilateral meeting between Obama and Putin; that was put off after Russia granted sanctuary to fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, tensions which were exasperated as America’s and Russia’s foreign policy goals clashed on Syria.  Instead, the two presidents might attempt to speak “on the margins” of meetings held during the summit.