President Barack Obama threatened Monday to call off a planned meeting with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a USA ally’s leader during a diplomatic tour that’s put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures.
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Speaking after a 90-minute conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Obama said of the United States, “We’re moving into a new era here where a number of countries have significant capacities”.
The comments were made a day after Obama said the U.S. and Russian Federation had deep differences with regard to the parties they support in Syria as well as the process to bring peace there.
“There is a difference between commitment and enforcement at least, it’s here”, he said.
He said they discussed “a range of issues”, the two most important being how to cease violence in Syria and provide humanitarian relief.
Obama said he would not comment on “specific investigations that are still live and active”, an apparent reference to a computer breach of the Democratic National Committee, which some USA officials have blamed on Russian Federation.
It follows equally unsuccessful talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
When asked about the meeting a short time later at his end-of-summit press conference in China, Obama said he’s instructed Kerry and Lavrov to keep working on an agreement. Obama said the aim was to reach “meaningful, serious, verifiable cessations of hostilities in Syria”.
Obama said “the typical the tone of our meetings are candid, blunt and businesslike and this one was no different”.
“We have had some productive conversations about what a real cessation of hostilities would look like, that would allow us both, the United States and Russian Federation, to focus our attention on common enemies like ISIL and Nusra”, Obama told reporters on Monday at the end of the forum in Hangzhou.
“Given the gaps of trust that exist, that’s a tough negotiation”, Mr Obama said at the end of the Group of 20 summit.
Obama and Putin also discussed the conflict in Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the government, and the implementation of an agreement to stop the violence.
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To the frustration of the White House, these weighty matters seemed to be overshadowed by a made-for-social-media moment from Mr Obama’s arrival at the airport.
