Obama and Putin tell diplomats to keep working on Syria argument

In a press conference after his meeting with Putin, Obama said, “We have had some productive conversations about what a real cessation of hostilities would look like to allow us to both focus our energies on common enemies”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his US counterpart Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G-20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou on September 5, 2016.

In talks that Obama described as “blunt” and “businesslike”, the two leaders met after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry met for the second time in a week to narrow their differences over the Syrian conflict. Obama says the United States and Russian Federation are working to try to finalise a ceasefire in Syria that would allow more deliveries of humanitarian aid.

“Our collaborative effort with the USA in fighting terrorist organizations, including the ones in Syria, may be significantly improved and intensified”, Putin said, before adding he believes that Russian Federation and the United States could reach a deal soon.

“If it does, then we can say that our joint work with the United States in fighting terrorist organisations, including in Syria, will be significantly improved and intensified”.

Russian Federation has insisted that it can not agree to a deal unless opposition fighters, backed by the United States and Middle East allies, are separated from al-Qaeda linked militants they overlap with in some areas.

The U.S. backs some of the rebel groups against Assad, seeing them as relative moderates.

“Despite everything, we have some alignment of positions and an understanding of what we could do to de-escalate the situation in Syria”, Putin told reporters, without providing more details.