US and Russian presidents to sit at different sides of table at G20 talks

Russian and US President Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama will sit at different sides of the table at the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg on September 5-6, Izvestia reports.

Organizers of the summit decided to use the English alphabetical order when sitting the presidents. The Russian order would have resulted in the Saudi Arabian king who supports the US and NATO operation in Syria sitting between them.

Putin and Obama will be separated by heads of South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Korea and the UK.