Obama has not met with Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, since a coup almost toppled Erdogan’s government in July. He told reporters it was wrong for Britain to leave the Europen Union.
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Begrudgingly, U.S. officials admit that partnering with Russian Federation will give Putin the type of “global player” status that he has long sought and help cast his bloody military intervention in Syria as legitimately focused on terrorism.
Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a longer-than-expected discussion about whether, and how, they could agree on a deal, a senior US administration official said.
Talks between the US and Russian Federation to agree a ceasefire deal for Syria fell through on Sunday (4 September), with the US President Barack Obama saying ” grave differences” remain between the countries.
Although the summit concluded without a deal, the two leaders discussed ongoing efforts to reach an agreement and noted the progress made in the talks between Secretary of StateJohn Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Obama and President Xi Jinping announced they had committed their nations to a landmark climate deal brokered past year in Paris.
It said the rebels must cooperate in order for the agreement to take effect, but that guarantees were being sought that Moscow, Syria’s most powerful ally, would respect the deal. Obama has said Britain’s decision to leave the European Union would not harm the “special relationship” between the two countries.
In an interview two days before a G20 meeting in China with U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders, Mr. Putin said ongoing talks between Moscow and Washington were very hard but on the right track.
“Typically, the tone of our meetings are candid, blunt, businesslike – and this one was no different”, was how Obama described it to reporters.
In comments to Russian journalists earlier in the day, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov indicated that the separation of forces remains an issue.
“Many of the groups considered acceptable by the USA have actually affiliated with the Nusra Front, while the Nusra Front is using them to avoid being attacked”, Ryabkov told Russian media, citing a longstanding complaint of his government.
The secretary of state declined to reveal what outstanding issues are keeping the USA and Russian Federation from reaching a deal, but one official says Russian Federation balked on several points – delaying an announcement anticipated on Sunday.
Russian Federation has voiced concern over the actions of Turkey’s armed forces and fighters led by Ankara in northern Syria. “Given the gaps of trust that exist, that’s a tough negotiation”, he said. “We’ve got to figure out how to make certain both of us can be comfortable with the resolution to those issues, so that’s what we’re working on”. The announcement came some 10 days after Turkey launched its first major military incursion into Syria since the start of the war in 2011, an operation aimed as much at preventing further Kurdish territorial gains as at driving back Islamic State.
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According to Russia Today, part of the logistical problem in implementing a ceasefire in Syria is the ongoing failure by the USA to provide any distinction between terrorist groups and militia that it claims are “moderate rebels”.
