Obama and Putin’s “icy” draw

It is common knowledge that the US and Russia differ in their views of the ongoing developments in Syria, engulfed in civil war for two years already. These differences stood out in especially high relief during a meeting between Barack Obama, the current occupant of the White House, and the master of the Kremlin Vladimir Putin, held on the margins of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

Both presidents clashed openly on the Syrian issue, with the dispute carrying over into their joint press appearance.

It prompted Reuters and The Los Angeles Times’ journalists to describe the meeting as “icy.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg reporters stated that such a public split was a rare occurrence at global summits.

As noted by The Wall Street Journal, the American-Russian controversies are growing stronger, with the Kremlin backing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad with heavy weaponry, and the White House ordering the CIA to arm the Syrian president’s opponents. During the press appearance after the US-Russian talks, the business paper adds, both presidents “spent most of the session staring grimly ahead and appeared at pains to avoid open disagreement.”

While American and Russian leaders expressed support for peace negotiations to be held in Geneva, they offered no sign of progress in ending the Syrian war, writes The Los Angeles Times.

The British Guardian joins American media’s assessments, noting that the Obama-Putin exchange was rather “cool.” According to the paper, prospects of agreement between the US and Russia on how to end the war in Syria look as remote as ever.

The central disagreement was over the fate of President al-Assad, Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications, told reporters on the evening of June 17, as the US believed that any transition in Syria had to involve al-Assad leaving power, while the Russians disagreed.

According to media reports, the US, Britain, and France are considering providing military assistance to moderate Syrian opposition, but Putin is very unhappy with the prospect and has pledged to supply arms to the Assad regime in response.

The press appearance saw both leaders trying to take the pressure off with jokes. In particular, Obama said jokingly: “We compared notes on President Putin’s expertise in judo and my declining skills in basketball,” and Putin replied with the following remark: “The president wants to relax me with his statement of progressing weakness.” This exchange prompted Gazeta.ru to use sports terminology and state that the meeting at Lough Erne ended in a fighting draw.

Unfortunately, the prospect of solving the Syrian conflict has become even more remote with it.