NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first formal meeting in more than two years started with an awkward handshake and ended without a breakthrough on Syria, a crisis that has strained their already tense relationship.
On the biggest issue that divides them in Syria – the status of embattled leader Bashar Assad – Obama and Putin left their discussions Monday exactly where they started. The U.S. still insists Syria’s future cannot include Assad, while Putin appears to only want to bolster the standing of his longtime ally, casting him as the best defense against Islamic States militants.
Even so, both leaders appeared interested in whether their meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly could yield progress toward ending Syria’s 4 year civil war. After the 90-minute sit-down at U.N. headquarters, Putin and U.S. officials who described the meeting on Obama’s behalf each spoke of the need for cooperation.
“Strange is it may seem, there were many common points,” Putin told reporters. “There were also disagreements which we agreed to work together. I hope this work will be constructive.”
U.S. officials said the leaders agreed to explore ways to pursue a resolution to a crisis that has left more than 250,000 dead, even as they made clear Obama wasn’t bending on his insistence that Assad not be part of the eventual solution.