Off to the side of the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, the US and Russian presidents held talks about Syria that Barack Obama described as “businesslike” and were “constructive but not conclusive”.
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Boris Johnson has called on Russian Federation to end its “seemingly indefensible” support for Syrian president Bashar Assad’s “killing machine” and help pave the way for an opposition plan to end the country’s brutal conflict.
“This is my proposal to Mr Putin and Mr Obama”.
Foreign ministers from the Friends of Syria group hosted by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will meet later Wednesday to discuss ways to curtail the fighting, which has helped spawn a huge refugee crisis.
As he headed to Laos, Obama professed to being undeterred by the unpredictable unfriendly global environment at the end of his presidency.
In China, Erdogan said he told all world leaders at the Antalya summit previous year that “in Syria a safe zone could be set up. and we could solve the refugee crisis”.
US officials say they are awaiting sufficient evidence to justify the request to extradite Gulen, who is 75 and claims to be in failing health.
“Typically, the tone of our meetings are candid, blunt, businesslike – and this one was no different”, was how Obama described it to reporters.
The US hopes to align with Russian Federation to identify terrorist targets, including ISIS and the Nusra Front, a group formerly tied to al-Qaeda. The two leaders used the talk to clarify sticking points, the official said.
“Given the failure of previous cessations of hostilities to hold, we approach it with some skepticism”, Obama said.
“While I recognise there will be some differences between us, there are some complex and serious areas of concern and issues to discuss, I hope we will be able to have a frank and open relationship and dialogue”, May said.
Obama is not only confronting regimes in Russia, China and North Korea that are at times openly hostile to Washington – or at least willing to make clear they don’t want to play by its rules – but over the long weekend, he got headaches from allies as well, notably Turkey and the Philippines. The Daily Mail reported that a pro-Putin website claimed that “spooks” operating in the city may have been trying to “send a message” to the president.
“We have a divided country”, Trump concluded.
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After a 90-minute huddle on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit, the two leaders directed their top diplomats to return to talks quickly, likely later this week, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the meeting. What then? What follows Assad?’
