President Obama and Russia President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet face-to-face in New York next week, though neither side admits to putting in the request.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest insisted Putin was "desperate" for a meeting. Putin's spokesman portrayed Obama as the eager one, and his foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, denied the Russian Federation even put in a call. "Statements by Josh Earnest that Putin was very interested in this meeting and repeatedly asked for it are not true," Ushakov told the official Tass news agency, as reported by the New York Times.
He said, she said banter aside, two of the world's most powerful political figures are slated to meet at the United Nations with vastly different agendas in mind.
Obama wants to discuss Russia's military influence in Ukraine and why they refuse to pull out after three rounds of tough sanctions. Obama has refused in-person meetings with Putin since trouble among the European neighbors began two years ago.
"Given the situations in Ukraine and Syria, despite our profound differences with Moscow, the president believes that it would be irresponsible not to test whether we can make progress through high-level engagement with the Russians," a senior administration official told Politico.
Putin's focus is Syria and finding international support for Russian forces that are preparing to fight ISIS. The Kremlin has sent dozens of attack aircrafts, tanks, and at least one large cargo plane to its Hmeimim base on the Mediterranean coast over the last two weeks.
Obama and Putin haven't spoken since the completion of the Iran Nuclear deal in July. They haven't met since a November 2014 summit in Beijing where both spoke without camaraderie.
"On three occasions throughout the day, for a total of approximately 15-20 minutes, President Obama had an opportunity to speak with President Putin," said White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan told Reuters. "Their conversations covered Iran, Syria, and Ukraine."