President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for about 90 minutes Monday, an informal meeting squeezed in before the end of the G20 summit in China.
{mosads}Obama first held a “pull-aside” with President Francois Hollande of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to discuss the situation in Ukraine. He then huddled with Putin to discuss a cease-fire in Syria — around the same time a series of coordinated explosions rocked government-held areas of the region. CNN reported that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
“Typically the tone of our meetings are candid, blunt, businesslike — and this one was no different,” Obama said.
He said they discussed “a range of issues,” the two most important being how to cease violence in Syria and provide humanitarian relief.
“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.
“In their discussion president Putin and President Obama clarified the remaining gaps in those discussions and they directed Secretary Kerry and foreign Minister Lavrov to see if they could reach an agreement.”
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.
He highlighted the need to provide humanitarian relief to those in Syria, and said the nations are working on a instituting a “meaningful, serious, viable cessation of hostilities” there.
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 Russia, to focus our attention on common enemies, like ISIL and Nusra. But given the gaps of trust that exist, that’s a tough negotiation, and we haven’t yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work.”
Obama said he’s instructed Kerry, and Putin had told Lavrov “to keep working at it over the next several days — because the faster we can provide some relief to folks on the ground, the better off we’re going to be.”
The leaders also discussed the situation in Ukraine, as well as cybersecurity.
Obama “made clear to president Putin that sanctions will continue on Russia if Minsk is not fully implemented,” the White House pool reported.