Bloomberg: Paris attacks forced the US to reconsider its attitude towards Russia

As part of the G20 summit in Antalya, Vladimir Putin I spent half-hour talks with US President Barack Obama. The previous meeting of the two presidents took place during the General Assembly. UN on the eve of the Russian military operation in Syria. Since then, there have been three major terrorist attacks that the Islamic State is suspected of organizing: the bombings in Ankara and Beirut and attack series in Paris. In addition, the IG took responsible for the crash of the Russian liner in Egypt, which killed 224 people.

Following the meeting with Putin, Obama said that all countries should unite to fight the "Islamic state", and noted the importance of Russian military efforts in Syria. Both presidents confirmed the importance of a political settlement in Syria without the intervention of external forces and under the control of UN (such a plan was adopted during the Saturday meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Vienna and, as noted by AP, strongly resembles the proposals that Russia had previously promoted).

The authors of Bloomberg recognize that certain differences between Russia and the United States remain. For example, the question of which groups within the Syrian conflict will not be allowed to settle in the country has not been resolved. However, meeting participants call these differences "tactical." Western leaders, who previously blamed Russia for undercovering the fight against the “Islamic State”, joined the Syrian conflict on the side of Bashar Assad, now saying that Russia needs to “correct tactics” and focus more efforts on fighting the IS.

Strengthening the "Islamic state" was a common foreign policy challenge that united Russia and the United States, writes Bloomberg. Russia's intervention altered the balance of power within the Syrian conflict and forced the Obama administration to rethink its support strategy for the Syrian opposition. The attacks in Paris were the catalyst. As a result, if at last year’s G20 summit in Australian Brisbane, Vladimir Putin was an outcast, at the summit in Antalya, he again became an international player, concludes Bloomberg.

Previously "Forum" писал about the strange things that happened at the G20 summit. Cats, a bottle of Putin and a failed spy—this is what the Antalya summit will be remembered for.