Still, as Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended an economic summit, the leaders were under pressure to push the negotiations beyond the sticking points that have thus far prevented a deal. “We haven’t yet closed the gaps”.
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Prime Minister Theresa May also met Putin for the first time at the weekend and said she wants “a frank and open relationship” with Russian Federation.
In talks earlier on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were unable to come to terms on a ceasefire for the second time in two weeks, with U.S. officials stressing they would walk away if a near-term pact could not be reached.
State Department officials have declined to elaborate on what the sticking points are preventing a deal, though the USA official said the remaining differences revolved around how the plan would be implemented.
The summit was frequently overshadowed by other concerns and got off to a rocky start Saturday when there was no staircase at the airport for Obama to exit his plane. USA officials blame Russian intelligence for a hack on the Democratic National Committee that resulted in a leak of emails damaging to its presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayypip Erdogan, met to discuss the conflict in Syria and to try to mend frayed relations.
The pull-aside meeting will be the pair’s last face-to-face exchange before Obama leaves office in January.
Obama’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping also veered into delicate territory, with a lengthy White House description detailing how Obama had pressed Xi to abide by an worldwide tribunal’s ruling against China over the South China Sea.
But the focus on climate quickly gave way to the failed Syria talks.
Obama stressed the importance of a deal, saying later that the current dynamic in Syria was allowing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to bomb targets “with impunity” and permitting extremist groups to continue recruiting. Al-Assad’s forces, and in the past Russian planes, have bombed us -backed Syrian rebels under the guise of fighting ISIS.
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Obama’s next stop is Laos, where he’ll promote his effort to deepen ties to Southeast Asia.
