Putin Says He And Obama Took Step Forward On Syria

As NPR’s David Welna reported earlier this summer, Secretary of State John Kerry has been pushing for a deal between the USA and Russian Federation that would have the two countries coordinate their military efforts to target mutual enemies in Syria.

The two leaders conversed on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou for ninety minutes, a senior U.S. official said, and worked to clarify gaps in negotiations over on the Syrian crisis. But Obama “suggested the USA has concerns about Russian Federation holding up its end of the bargain and enforcing the terms”, the wire service writes. Obama said the aim was to reach “meaningful, serious, verifiable cessations of hostilities in Syria”.

The exchange came after talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov failed to result in a Syria ceasefire agreement.

Obama’s meeting with Putin comes as the Russian Federation leader is playing a prominent role in the presidential campaign at home.

Politically embarrassing emails from the breach were leaked ahead of the convention of the party, with many security experts holding that the hack had the backing of Russian intelligence services. He said he had discussed the topic of cybersecurity norms with Putin and earlier with some other countries, and is already seeing some willingness from a lot of countries to adopt the rules, though it will have to be seen whether they are following them.

Asked by CNN’s Michelle Kosinski about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President described it as “candid” and “blunt” focusing mainly on Syria and Ukraine. There was agreement, not just between myself and Mr. (Vladimir) Putin, but with Chancellor (Angela) Merkel and President (Francois) Hollande, that that effort should increase in urgency over the next several weeks.

The hard diplomacy on Syria set the tone for an uneven few days for Obama on his final tour of Asia as president.

But the focus on climate quickly gave way to the failed Syria talks.

Obama said there are going to be enough problems in cyberspace with “non-state actors” using the Internet for theft and other illegal purposes, which creates the need for protecting critical infrastructure and securing financial systems.

As the president was greeted by his Chinese hosts, Obama’s aides and journalists accompanying the president clashed with a Chinese official as they tried to watch the ceremony. The tensions lingered throughout the trip as Chinese officials severely restricted the media’s ability to attend Obama’s G20 events. “After that Obama and Putin held a one-on-one meeting behind closed doors”, the Kremlin spokesman said. Duterte on Monday warned that Obama should not question him, during a scheduled meeting Tuesday, about extrajudicial killings in his country.