Obama and Putin discuss Syria cease-fire
President Barack Obama said on Sunday that U.S. and Russian negotiators are
working "around the clock" to try to strike a deal to reduce violence in Syria, but added "we're not there yet." (Sept. 4) AP
President Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday failed to make a breakthrough in negotiating a cease-fire agreement for Syria, according to a media report.
The two leaders agreed to keep looking for a path to provide humanitarian aid to civilians in the war-torn state and also discussed Ukraine and U.S. concerns over cybersecurity during a 90 minute meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Hangzhou, China, the Associated Press reported, citing a senior U.S. official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter by name. The official said Obama and Putin told their teams to meet again soon, possibly later this week.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also took part in the talks, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the meeting lasted longer than planned.
“(The two presidents) discussed, above all, Syria and Ukraine. After that Obama and Putin held a one-on-one meeting behind closed doors," he said, according to TASS. "The work will continue," Peskov added.
The meeting came hours after American and Russian diplomats failed to seal an agreement aimed at providing access to humanitarian aid for thousands of Syrians. Obama is scheduled to hold a news conference later Monday.
Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to travel to Laos later Monday, where he plans to push for closer economic ties with Laos and Southeast Asia, and raise human rights abuses in the one-party communist state.