Amid tensions, Obama, Putin put on a happy face

September 5, 2013 at 2:51p.m.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin shook hands, smiled and made small talk about the scenery today - a public exchange of pleasantries belying a tense relationship that only seems to be getting worse. “We’ve kind of hit a wall,” Obama said of the United States’ ties with Russia the day before he arrived in St. Petersburg for a global summit.