Another key European ally, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is expected to win re-election later this month will also be there and will press for meaningful United Nations action on Syria, despite Russian obstruction.
And Obama’s public encounters with host Putin — who he recently referred to as a “bored kid” at the back of the classroom — will be closely watched, amid what analysts say is clear personal distrust between the two leaders.
Putin has ridiculed as “nonsense” the US claims that Assad was behind the chemical weapons attacks which Washington said killed more than 1,400 people, and warned that US strikes could destabilize the entire Middle East.
Relations between the Kremlin and the White House are considered as brittle as they have been since the end of the Cold War.
When he arrives in Stockholm, Obama will hold talks with Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, in the first-ever bilateral visit by an incumbent US president to the country.
They will discuss climate change, defense and security cooperation and trade and development, as well as key foreign policy challenges including Syria and Egypt, a senior US official said.
Obama will then celebrate the life of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who rescued thousands of Jews from Nazi-occupied Hungary — on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
On Wednesday evening, Obama will attend a dinner hosted by Sweden for the President of Finland and the prime ministers of Denmark, Iceland and Norway.
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