You could see it on their emotionless faces and in their mirthless handshake -- Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin would have preferred to have been somewhere else, anywhere perhaps other than sitting face to face with one another in New York City on Monday.
But there they were, the presidents of the United States and Russia, toasting each other, grinning and bearing it for the cameras.
And then they walked through the doors, which closed behind them, and sat down for a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations summit -- their first in two years.
Flanked by their staff, the heads of state talked for 90 minutes. Their focus: Ukraine, where Russia has annexed Crimea and fueled a bloody war that has killed nearly 8,000 people since April 2014; and the civil war in Syria, where Russia has recently begun a military buildup and called on the international community to support the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The U.S. says Assad must go.
Everyone's there. It's a party. pic.twitter.com/u9PVADQ7ER pic: @KremlinRussia— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 28, 2015
Asked by reporters as he emerged from the meeting, a Putin said his tête-à-tête with Obama was "very good."
Vladimir Putin walked out of 95 min meeting with Obama - when asked how the meeting went he said "very good." pic.twitter.com/ZJjPNn2L2y— Sonia Moghe (@soniamoghe) September 28, 2015
The Russian president elaborated during a short Q and A with reporters minutes later.
"Today's meeting was very constructive, practical and surprisingly frank," Putin told reporters. "We found a lot of common ground, but there are differences as well. In fact they are known, so there is no need to repeat them."
Putin: Discussion with Obama today was very polite, business-like and frank. ... And US offered us this meeting. pic.twitter.com/xgEu3MJlWe— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 28, 2015
Putin confessed that relations between Moscow and Washington are at "a rather low level" at the moment, but said that it was not Russia's doing that ties with the US had been strained. Instead, he said, it was the result of its "American partners' position."
On Ukraine: Putin said he was committed to de-escalating the 17-month-long conflict, but as for the possibility of the United States' more active participation in settling the Ukrainian conflict, "the U.S. is already participating quite actively, although it is not at the forefront like the work by Russia, France and Germany in the so-called Normandy format," he said.
Putin is set to meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande -- together, the Normandy Four -- in Paris on Friday to discuss a political settlement in Ukraine.
On Syria, the president insisted that despite reports of a buildup of Russian troops and military equipment there, "Russian troops taking part in ground operations in Syria is not and will not be an option."
Putin: 'No talk of Russian troops taking part in ground operations in Syria, and won't be talk of this in future.' pic.twitter.com/etoJOBjUB6— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 28, 2015
Asked by a journalist from Russia's state-run Channel One whether the "United States' isolation of Russia has failed," Putin responded: "It's impossible to isolate Russia ... To understand this, just look at the map."
Putin definitely taking a much less combative tone than we've heard before. Talking a lot about cooperation with West, no fiery rhetoric.— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 28, 2015
Putin's tone was much more playful and conciliatory than in weeks and months past, indicating that he might be ready to work with his Western counterparts to solve the crises in Syria and Ukraine and be welcomed back in from the cold.
Oh, and that photo, the one with the two of them clinking glasses together ... how did it happen? Obama, being a "nice guy," Putin said, offered up a toast to cut the tension.
Perhaps this is the (re)start of a beautiful friendship.
Some reporting by the Associated Press.