US officials have said that as part of a deal, Russian Federation would have to halt offensives by Assad’s government, something it has failed to do over months of diplomatic efforts.
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On the other hand, Putin told reporters at a separate news conference that talks with the USA and Turkey were continuing concerning Syria, adding that negotiators had made a step forward.
“It is worth trying”, Obama said to reporters.
Xi and Obama jointly announced on Saturday, the eve of the summit, that they had agreed to join the Paris Agreement on climate change.
John Kerry (secretary of state) and Sergey Lavrov (Russian foreign minister) have been in the process of brokering a deal that would reduce the violence that has been going on between the government forces of Assad and the rebel forces that the United States are supporting. Obama said he would ask his aides to assess whether a “constructive” meeting was still possible in Laos with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which hosts 3 million Syrian refugees, said he had reiterated to Obama and Putin at the G-20 talks in China the need for a “no-fly zone” over Syria and a “safe zone” where there would be no fighting, in hopes of stemming the human migration. It’s clear now what our respective positions are, and we’ll see in coming days whether on Syria we can reach a near-term agreement. US failure to do so has allowed the Russians to claim they are targeting only terrorists of the Front for the Conquest of Syria – or Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the al-Qaeda affiliate formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra – and the Islamic State.
The two world leaders also discussed alleged Russian cyber attacks on America, with Obama likening the internet to a risky weapon. It appeared Sunday as if they were getting close: American officials scheduled a press conference and installed two podiums, then hastily had to remove one when Kerry came back empty-handed from the discussions. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country’s people. The city, which was Syria’s largest before the conflict, is the main front between the forces of Bashar al-Assad and various opposition groups.
Russia’s Arctic area borders the United States, Canada, Norway and the Greenland of Denmark.
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It’s unclear what, exactly, is holding up an agreement. “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”. “This summit should be seen as another step, another signal that Russian Federation remains a very important player in the global arena and that it’s impossible to resolve pressing internationals issues without consulting Moscow”, he said. In recent days, the State Department has said it only wants a nationwide ceasefire between Assad’s military and the rebels, and not another “cessation of hostilities” that is time-limited and only stops fighting in some cities and regions.
