Obama and Putin met

In New York, the first bilateral meeting of US President Barack Obama since the summer of 2013 with Russian President Vladimir Putin has ended.

The two leaders met at UN headquarters on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

Immediately after the talks with the American President, Vladimir Putin said that the focus of the meeting participants was the situation in Syria and Russian participation in resolving this conflict, as well as the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The negotiations lasted almost twice as long as the planned 55 minutes. According to the representative of the US administration, half of the time the parties devoted the situation in Ukraine, and the other half - the Syrian conflict. The Russian president called the meeting very useful and frank.

“Today’s conversation, as I have already said, was very constructive, business-like and surprisingly very frank,” the Russian leader told reporters.

Air strikes

“We have found many points of agreement, but there are also differences,” Putin added.

“Our American partners have quite clearly stated their position on many issues, including on the settlement (of the situation in Ukraine) and on Syrian issues,” the Russian president said after the meeting with Obama, admitting that the American president is fully aware of what is happening in Ukraine .

According to the White House, Barack Obama expressed his concern to Putin about the implementation of agreements reached in Minsk to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and, in particular, about the intentions of the leadership of the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR to hold local elections.

Touching upon the situation in Syria, Putin said after the talks that the Syrians themselves must decide their fate. He ruled out the participation of Russian troops in ground operations in Syria.

Vladimir Putin, however, confirmed that he was considering the possibility of Russian participation in air operations against the IS. But, according to him, these operations must comply with international standards: to conduct them in Syria, according to Putin, there must be a corresponding request from the Syrian government.

The Russian president stressed that Moscow is ready to restore relations that have deteriorated recently with Washington.

“We are always ready to develop relations, to restore them in full,” he told reporters after a meeting with Barack Obama.

“There is no turning back for Assad”

Earlier, both presidents spoke from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly and expressed diametrically opposed views on a number of critical issues, including on the Syrian issue.

Barack Obama said that the settlement of the Syrian conflict is impossible while Syrian President Bashar Assad is in power.

Vladimir Putin called for support for President Assad, since, in his opinion, he is the only legitimate leader in the country.

The Russian president called the US refusal to cooperate with the current Syrian authorities, who, according to the Russian president, are “really fighting terrorism” a mistake.

However, according to Obama, leading the war against his own people, Bashar Assad is not able to promote reconciliation in Syria, and that after all the crimes he committed there is no way back for the Syrian dictator.

Obama called for an organized transition of power in Syria to another politician.

At the same time, both Obama and Putin emphasized the importance of the joint fight against the Islamic State.