Syria: Putin and Obama Reach Agreement on Military Contracts

Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, forced by international events to re-open talks, agreed on Monday evening to tactical discussions between their two armies. The objective was to avoid conflict in the event of further operations in Syria, an American official announced.

“We have a lot in common … We have sound grounds to work on the points of concern together,” the Russian president said after meeting with Barack Obama.

Assad’s Departure

The diplomatic heads of the two countries will continue political discussions. The Pentagon will oversee the organization of exchanges between officials. The American president, whose country has led a coalition coordinating aerial attacks against the Islamic State for over a year, has reiterated that the country will never regain stability if Bashar Assad keeps his place as president.

The American president, who spoke shortly before Putin at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, indicated that the United States was “prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran,” — Damascus’ two main allies, to resolve the Syrian conflict.

However, Obama also stated that any solution to the conflict depended on the departure of Assad, whom he labelled a tyrant, a position also defended by French President François Hollande. “I have the greatest respect for my American and French counterparts, but they are not Syrian citizens and should not involve themselves in the running of another country,” Putin declared during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York following his meeting with Obama.

The head of the Kremlin did, however, praise the United Nations for the creation of an expanded coalition to fight the terrorists, also reiterating his support for Bashar Assad’s regime.

Putin stated that Russia would not exclude itself from acting alongside the West in U.N. mandated military operations against the Islamic State. He did, however, exclude Russia from any land operation against the jihadi group.

According to an American official, half of the 90-minute meeting was spent discussing Syria, and the other half was spent discussing the situation in Ukraine, where Russia is accused by the United States of supporting the separatist insurrection of Donbass.

Obama expressed his concern over the enactment of the Minsk agreement signed last February. Most concerning to him was the separatists’ decision to organize local elections shortly afterward without the agreement of Kiev.