Syria truce hopes dim as Russia is skeptical

US President Barack Obama has told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to stop air strikes against moderate Syrian rebels, says the White House.

The telephone conversation was organized at the initiative of the USA side, AzerTag reports.

After phone talks between Putin and Obama today, the Kremlin said that both gave a “positive valuation” to the meeting on Syria in Munich on Thursday and Friday.

“The Russian president once again stressed importance of organizing common anti-terrorist front, where double standards are dropped”.

Mr Medvedev said the aim of Moscow’s aerial bombardment was to stop extremist groups getting to Russian Federation.

He said some of the extremists in Syria are from Russian Federation and would otherwise return to commit acts of terror.

“In particular, President Obama emphasised the importance now of Russian Federation playing a constructive role by ceasing its air campaign against moderate opposition forces in Syria”, it said.

Riad Hijab, a Syrian opposition leader who heads the High Negotiation Committee, told the conference that Obama has failed to follow through on his statement in 2011 that Assad had lost legitimacy and must go.

Political settlement was the only way to end conflicts in Syria, Xinhua quoted Kerry as saying in a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

The deal comes amid the Syrian military’s push to encircle terrorists in Aleppo, the country’s largest city, and cut off their supply routes to Turkey.

Further complicating the situation, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, both USA allies, could launch a ground operation in Syria against the Islamic State (IS) militant group, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

“It is an opportunity for us to turn our undivided attention on Daesh, which is probably the single most challenging global threat”, said GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Russian Federation had gained the upper hand in Syria and the surrounding region through armed force, a senior conservative ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday, and he voiced doubts that Moscow would respect a truce plan for the war-torn country.

Medvedev said such a close exchange was imperative, otherwise there would be no end to the war in Syria, people would keep dying and the massive influx of refugees to Europe would continue.

“If Russia or the (President Bashar) Assad regime violates this agreement, what are the consequences?” he asked.