Obama, Putin chat briefly at Asia summit

President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a brief chat Monday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, but aides say the geopolitical adversaries didn’t have time for a serious discussion.

“They only had a brief encounter where they didn’t have time to cover issues,” a senior administration official said Monday, promising more information if the pair discussed specific topics later this week.

{mosads}The brief encounter comes after the two have clashed on a number of international issues in recent months, most notably Russia’s repeated incursions into Ukraine. Moscow has annexed Ukrainian territory and has provided military aid to separatist groups whom the U.S. believes were behind the downing of a passenger jet this summer.

On Sunday, the White House said it was “very concerned” by reports that Russian-backed separatists operating in eastern Ukraine were moving large convoys of heavy weapons and tanks into conflict zones.

“We continue to call on all sides to strictly adhere to the cease-fire,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. “Any attempt by separatist forces to seize additional territory in eastern Ukraine would be a blatant violation of the Minsk agreements.”

In September, Kiev and Moscow signed a cease-fire agreement that promised a decentralization of power within Ukraine and local elections in return for the withdrawal of military equipment and mercenaries from the country.

The U.S. and Europe have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia’s financial, energy, and defense sectors over its actions in Ukraine.

But Russia and the U.S. are also working together to try to broker a deal with Iran to end its nuclear weapons program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. The countries face a Nov. 24 deadline for those talks.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that Iran had agreed to ship much of its uranium stockpile to Russia for conversion into specialized fuel rods, a process that would make them difficult to weaponize. The proposal represents a potential breakthrough in talks over Tehran’s weapons program.