Russian President Vladimir Putin shook hands (and smiled) with President Obama on Thursday morning at the 2013 G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, where leaders of major countries were ostensibly meeting to discuss the stability of the global economy. The tense handshake — a controversial trope during Obama’s previous visits to Russia — underscored Putin’s interference with American foreign policy. Up until yesterday, Russia supplied arms to the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, and Putin has helped stanch a United Nations resolution to sanction military intervention in Syria, while demanding that such a resolution pass before Russia would support a U.S.-led strike.

Obama’s visit is the first since Russia granted asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in early August, since which journalists have continued to publish stories, based on documents Snowden gathered from job at Booz Allen, about the country’s proliferating security state — including “cyber-attacks” against Russia itself.