United States (U.S.) President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met yesterday for the first time in almost a year, after talks at the weekend between the two countries on a deal to reduce violence in Syria stalled.
Advertisement
“He’s exercising his constitutional right to make a statement”, Obama said.
“There is still a lot to do in order to completely re-establish cooperation in all areas”, said Mr Putin, after the bilateral meeting in Hangzhou on the eve of a Group of 20 summit in the eastern Chinese city.
President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a US ally’s leader during a diplomatic tour that’s put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures.
“It was constructive”, the White House official said of the meeting. “Work in this area will continue”, the spokesman told reporters in Hangzhou.
Despite intensive diplomatic efforts, the United States and Russian Federation have failed to reach an agreement to end violence in Syria due to an apparent lack of trust.
Obama also spent about 90 minutes Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obama’s in all the wrong ways. “Turkey is going through a hard period, fighting against terrorism in the face of serious terrorist crimes”. The campaign has spurred a humanitarian crisis and caused millions of Syrians to flee for Europe.
The comment follows finger-pointing at Russian Federation over the recent breach of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and fears the Kremlin is attempting to sway the United States elections.
Negotiators had been hopeful a deal could come together while world leaders gathered in China, and American officials were optimistic enough that they invited reporters to a planned announcement by Kerry and Lavrov.
“Given the failure of previous cessations of hostilities to hold, we approach it with some skepticism”, Obama said.
Obama said, however, that he wouldn’t comment about “specific investigations that are still live and active”, an apparent reference to the hack of the Democratic National Committee. “To the extent that there are children and women and innocent civilians who can get food and medical supplies and, you know, get some relief from the constant terror of bombings, that’s worth the effort”.
“China and Russian Federation share more common interests or similar stances in a range of issues, such as in Syria, the South China Sea and THAAD [US missile defence system in South Korea]”.
Advertisement
Jia Jinjing, a researcher with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China, said the summit reflects a change of China’s role in global governance from a participator to a lead reformer.
