Putin to Host Obama for Bilateral Visit this Year

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama for a bilateral visit later this year as the two leaders pledged to intensify cooperation on Syria and counter- terrorism, a Kremlin aide said on Monday.

Putin's foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said Obama had called Putin to discuss future contacts with the Russian leader including a bilateral visit just before the G20 summit that Russia hosts in Saint Petersburg in early September.

"The visit will take place before the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg," Russian news agencies quoted Ushakov as saying.

He did not release any details of the upcoming visit but said the two leaders would also meet on the sidelines of a G8 summit in Northern Ireland on June 17-18.

Putin and Obama have agreed to ramp up counter-terrorism efforts in the wake of the Boston bombings blamed on suspects of Chechen origin, Ushakov was quoted as saying.

The two leaders also expressed readiness to intensify cooperation on the Syrian conflict.

Relations between Moscow and Washington suffered after Putin returned to the Kremlin for a third term last May on the wave of anti-U.S. rhetoric.

Late last year, Moscow banned all adoptions of Russian children by American parents after Washington passed legislation targeting Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses.