President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Monday for their first formal meeting in two years amid new tensions in recent weeks between the already-adversarial world leaders.
While the meeting was reportedly scheduled for only an hour, it dragged on more than 30 minutes longer than expected. Putin emerged, telling reporters that it was constructive and “businesslike,” while Obama offered no immediate comments. A senior White House official told reporters after the meeting that it was “businesslike,” “productive” and “focused,” though the two leaders still fundamentally disagreed on the role Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would play in solving the conflict in the war-torn country.
While the world won’t likely be privy to all of details of their conversation at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the international community received a short preview in the leaders’ dueling speeches earlier Monday. Obama generated shaking heads from the Russian delegation after blaming the country for helping to prop up the “butchery” by Assad against his people.
He also defended the heavy package of sanctions still being levied against Russia for its annexation of Crimea and involvement in the Ukraine conflict. As for Putin, he dismissed the United States’ program to train Syrian rebels as both illegal in nature and ineffective, claiming that the only military presence actually battling against ISIS are Assad’s forces.
Source-ABC
