USA and Russian Federation hint at compromise on Syria — UN General Assembly

He is due to tell leaders at a summit in New York that Mr Assad could remain temporarily in power at the head of a transitional government.

The Obama administration has said there will be two items on the agenda – the ongoing situation in Ukraine in the run-up to that country’s elections in October and Syria. The two will be meeting privately later today.

The crisis has taken on fresh urgency amid Russia’s recent military buildup in Syria.

The US, of course, leads a multinational coalition that has spent the past year carrying out air strikes against Islamic State-controlled parts of Syria and Iraq.

“We are thinking about it and don’t exclude anything,” he said.

The team, Putin explained, would be “similar to the anti-Hitler coalition“.

Hollande said such a proposal could eventually be rubber-stamped with a United Nations Security Council resolution that “would give worldwide legitimacy to what’s happening in this zone”.

Obama argued that President Assad of Syria is a tyrant who needs to be removed from office, and he railed against the dichotomy between Assad and ISIS. Hollande called on countries with influence in Syria, including Gulf nations and Iran, to be engaged in a transition.

He cited United States sanctions against Russian Federation over Ukraine as an example and called for full support for the Syrian government in its war against terrorism.

USA officials have been careful not to rule out some kind of cooperation with Russian Federation while making clear that Assad ultimately must leave power. Over the past month, he has expanded Russia’s long supply of weapons to Assad with deployments of tanks and aircraft.

During his address to the UN General Assembly on Monday, Putin noted that no one but Assad’s armed forces are truly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorists and other militant groups operating inside the country.

In his own speech, Putin said USA and European support for the ousting of leaders from Iraq to Libya had only served to generate more instability and “social disaster” across the region.

Mr Obama and Mr Putin each framed his case for Syria’s future in the context of a broader approach to the world, launching veiled criticisms at each other.

The USA president condemned nations that believe “might makes right”, and sought instead to highlight the benefits of diplomacy. “There is a process by which all the parties have to come together and reach an understanding of how this can best be achieved”, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.

“After the end of the Cold War, the single centre of domination has emerged in the world”, Putin said.

Obama and Putin briefly shook hands during a leaders’ lunch that followed the morning of speeches. The Kremlin has said the conversation will be focused on Syria, with Ukraine coming up only “if time allows”.

The peace deal was brokered in February by France and Germany, and Russian Federation doesn’t want the United States to become engaged in those talks.

Mr. Putin said that Russia’s intervention in Syria was motivated not by any geopolitical agenda, but out of concern that the conflict could spread, particularly as foreign fighters who joined Islamic State – including some 2,000 Russian nationals – potentially return to their home countries.