Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country needs proof of chemical weapons usage in Syria and it will act "decisively" if such proof is received.
Speaking ahead of the G20 summit in St Petersburg, Mr Putin said he would not rule out agreeing to a military operation in Syria, but only with United Nations approval.
President Putin said the US Congress had no right to approve the use of force without a decision from the UN Security Council, and that doing so would be an "act of aggression"
Mr Putin also accused US Secretary of State John Kerry of lying to Congress about the militant group al Qaeda's role in the Syrian conflict when seeking the approval of US legislators for military action.
Yesterday, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee agreed on a draft resolution backing the limited use of US military force in Syria if Congress approves it next week.
The measure sets a time limit of 60 days on any operation and bans the use of ground forces in Syria.
The resolution states that "the president may extend" a 60-day operation "for a single period of 30 days" if he obtains further specific Congressional approval.
The draft was released after Secretary of State John Kerry told the committee that a failure to act would undermine the credibility of the US and make the world a more dangerous place.
More hearings and classified briefings with politicians will take place over the coming days before a vote over whether to back Mr Obama's resolution next week.
While recent opinion polls in the US show strong public opposition to military action in Syria, President Obama has gained the support of one of his bitterest political opponents, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner.
The US president is now in Sweden ahead of a summit of the G20 nations in St Petersburg.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Obama said the credibility of the US Congress was on the line in the need to uphold a ban on chemical weapons and to respond to Syria's chemical weapons attack.
"My credibility is not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line," Obama told a news conference in Sweden.
"America and Congress' credibility is on the line, because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important," Mr Obama added.
The White House has confirmed that the president will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Francois Hollande while in St Petersburg.
However, there are no plans for a formal bilateral meeting between Mr Obama and Mr Putin at the summit.
Meanwhile former Syrian defence minister Ali Habib has defected to Turkey, according to senior Syrian national coalition member, Kamal al-Labwani
France to debate military intervention
The French parliament is to hold an emergency debate on Syria, but no vote is planned today.
The debate will focus on possible French military intervention in Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons.
President Hollande has warned he is "ready to punish" those responsible for the recent attack in the Damascus suburbs.
The US has said that more than 1,400 people were killed in the attack on 21 August.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he believes the Syrian government would use chemical weapons against its own people again if the US stepped back from taking military action against it.
He said Mr Obama had warned the Assad government that the use of chemical weapons was a red line issue.
Mr Cameron said: "He set a very clear red line, that if there was large-scale chemical weapons use something had to happen.
"To ask the president of the United States, having set that red line, having made that warning, to step away from it I think that would be a very perilous suggestion to make because in response I think you would see more chemical weapons attacks from the regime."
Mr Cameron repeated that Britain would take no part in any military action against Syria after he lost what turned out to be a vital parliamentary vote on the issue last week.
However, he said the world still needed to take a tough line on Mr Assad's "revolting" use of chemical weapons.
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