World leaders meet in St Petersburg amid sharp differences over possible US military action against Damascus.
World leaders from G20 are meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, amid sharp differences over possible US military action against Syria, in response to what the US administration calls a deadly chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government.
Thursday's summit came hours after a US Senate panel voted to give President Barack Obama authority to use military force against Syria - the first time lawmakers in that country have voted to allow military action since the October 2002 votes authorising the invasion of Iraq.
The US and Russia, which is a key Syrian ally, remain at odds as Obama has tried to build his case for military action.
The US president has vowed to continue to try to persuade his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of the need for punitive strikes against President Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons when the two meet at the summit.
As Putin opened the summit, he spoke exclusively about the global economic crisis, which forms the primary agenda of the summit, stressing the need for co-ordinated international policy making in order to combat continuing volatility in economic markets.
He suggested that world leaders discuss the subject of Syria during an official dinner on Thursday night, so as not to take away from the summit's primary economic agenda.
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