President Barack Obama said Monday “gaps in trust” between the USA and Russian Federation are keeping the two countries from reaching a military agreement.
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“President Obama and President Putin discussed efforts to reach an agreement on Syria to reduce violence, provide humanitarian assistance and to focus on Al Qaeda”, the White House official said.
The meeting with Putin also covered cybersecurity and Russia’s presence in Ukraine, Obama said.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also took part in the talks, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
The G20 countries, which represent 85 percent of the global economic output and two thirds of the world’s population, also committed to facilitating the early entry into force of the global climate agreement reached in Paris past year.
A Chinese security official had also blocked National Security Adviser Susan Rice on the tarmac and yelled at another U.S. official trying to help journalists get closer to Obama.
“If we can not get the type of agreement we want, we will walk away from that effort”.
Russian Federation has characterised all armed opponents of the Assad regime as “terrorists” and targeted them with air strikes, including groups that the USA supports and describes as “moderate”.
The deal depends on the two sides agreeing to closer military co-ordination against extremist groups operating in Syria, something the Russians have long sought and the USA resisted. Al-Assad’s forces, and in the past Russian planes, have bombed us -backed Syrian rebels under the guise of fighting ISIS.
The mantra was repeated by President Barack Obama, as well as his counterparts from Britain and China.
“Our collaborative effort with the U.S. in fighting terrorist organizations, including the ones in Syria, may be significantly improved and intensified”, Putin said, before adding he believes that Russian Federation and the United States could reach a deal soon. The U.S. says the tests and other recent ones like it violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, and also pose a threat to aircraft and commercial ships in the region.
Mr Obama has expressed scepticism that Russian Federation would hold to its agreement.
A final decision is expected later this month, May said. The Kurds are the most effective US-backed anti-ISIL force, but the Turks consider them to be terrorists.
“This is the way I operate”, May earlier told reporters en route to the summit, which will include a one-to-one with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The tensions lingered throughout the trip as Chinese officials severely restricted the media’s ability to attend Obama’s G20 events. The Southeast Asian leader warned he would lash out if the US President raised extrajudicial killings in the Philippines’ new war on drugs in an anticipated meeting in Laos.
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Obama said tackling the issue effectively was important to “regain the trust” of people who feared the system is rigged, but that it would not be fixed overnight.
