Obama and Putin to meet face-to-face for the first time in over a year

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(Image credit: ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/AFP/GettyImages)

last updated 24 September 2015

President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to meet next week during the United Nations General Assembly session, the first time the two will come face-to-face since a brief conversation at the D-Day commemoration in June 2014, The Washington Post reports.The last time Obama and Putin spoke was over the phone, following the U.S. and Iran reaching an agreement to limit Iran's nuclear capabilities.

While the two leaders have had stormy relations since Russia annexed Crimea and pro-Russian rebels took portions of Ukraine, the White House issued a statement saying it would be "irresponsible not to test whether we can make progress through high-level engagement with the Russians." Notably, Russia has recently aided Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and broken the cease-fire in Ukraine — topics that almost certainly will come up in discussion.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.