Mary Gearin reported this story on Thursday, September 5, 2013 08:17:00

ELIZABETH JACKSON: All eyes are turning towards this week's G20 summit in Russia, where leaders are expected to thrash out an international consensus on what to do about the Syrian crisis.



In what seemed on the face of it a changed stance from Syria's critical ally Russia, Vladimir Putin said he would consider agreeing to military action, but he's demanded more proof of the regime's culpability.



Meanwhile en route to Russia, president Obama is pressing his case for a military strike.



Here's our Europe correspondent Mary Gearin.



MARY GEARIN: President Obama landed in Stockholm, still pleading his case.



BARACK OBAMA: I do think that we have to act, because if we don't, we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and issue resolutions and so forth and so on, somebody who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity.



MARY GEARIN: Like Mr Obama, world leaders are on their way to the G20 knowing Syria will dominate proceedings.



Waiting for them, their host, Russian president Vladimir Putin, appeared to shift his position, suggesting he could offer support for military action.



But he set the bar high, saying the support could only come after so-called convincing proof the Assad regime conducted a chemical attack and he insists on a UN mandate.



VLADIMIR PUTIN (translated): I do not exclude this but I would like to draw your attention to one absolutely key aspect. In line with international law, only the UN Security Council can sanction the use of force against a sovereign state. Any other pretext or method which might be used to justify the use of force against an independent sovereign state is inadmissible and can only be interpreted as aggression.



MARY GEARIN: President Putin said the evidence can't be based on spy agencies' eavesdropping or rumours, so that would include a wiretap that's become the subject of further media reports after an apparent leak from a briefing to German MPs this week.



The reports say German intelligence had intercepted a call between a high ranking member of Hezbollah, a militant group which supports Assad, and the Iranian embassy in Damascus, in which the official says Assad's order for the attack was a mistake and that the Syrian leader was losing his nerve.



(Applause)



France doesn't appear to need more convincing. Even though the government is still resisting calls to allow MPs to vote over action, a plea for intervention from prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault drew a standing ovation.



JEAN-MARC AYRAULT (translated): If we do not stop such behaviour from the regime, there will not be any political solution, because what would be the interest of the Syrian dictator, Mr Bashar Assad, to negotiate?



He thinks that as he kept saying, and he said, as he said at the beginning of the week, he can liquidate his opposition. (Applause)



MARY GEARIN: President Obama will spend the night in Sweden, a country that's just promised to grant permanent asylum to all Syrian refugees.



That edict stands until further notice, an acknowledgement that no matter what happens at this week's summit, this crisis is a long way from over.



This is Mary Gearin for AM.