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U.S.-Russia Talks on Syria Cease-Fire Stall at G-20 ‘Gaps in Trust’ With Russia Bar a Syrian Truce, Obama Says
(35 minutes later)
HANGZHOU, China — The Obama administration’s latest effort to broker a cease-fire in Syria fell short on Monday, after a 90-minute meeting between President Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting failed to resolve snags between the United States and Russia. VIENTIANE, Laos — The Obama administration’s latest effort to broker a cease-fire in Syria’s civil war fell short on Monday, after a 90-minute meeting between President Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia failed to resolve problems between them.
“Given the gaps of trust that exist, that’s a tough negotiation, and we haven’t yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work,” Mr. Obama declared at a news conference. “Given the gaps of trust that exist, that’s a tough negotiation, and we haven’t yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work,” Mr. Obama declared at a news conference at the end of a Group of 20 summit meeting in Hangzhou, China.
Mr. Obama said he had instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to continue negotiating with the Russians over the coming days to see if a deal was possible. The goal, he said, is to forge a durable cease-fire that would end the rain of bombs on Aleppo and other Syrian cities. He did not describe the points of contention. Other officials have said they involve technical issues like how to staff checkpoints in combat areas. But the checkered history of Syrian cease-fires — the United States agreed to one with Russia in February, only to watch it unravel weeks later — has left the president deeply leery.
“The faster we can offer some relief to folks on ground,” he said, “the better off we’re going to be.” On a day of diplomacy and history, Mr. Obama later flew to Laos, becoming the first sitting American president to visit this country, where children still stumble over unexploded bombs dropped by the United States during the Vietnam War. Having failed to halt the guns in Syria, Mr. Obama will seek reconciliation with the victims of a war long over.
At his own news conference at the end of the summit, Mr. Putin declined to discuss the details of a Syria deal, but said the talks were on the “right track” and expressed hope that an agreement could be reached shortly despite earlier disagreements. He insisted he was not giving up on Syria, however. Mr. Obama said he had instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to continue negotiating with the Russians this week to see if a deal on Syria was possible.
“I have grounds to believe that it can happen in the next few days,” Mr. Putin told reporters in remarks broadcast live on state-run television. “Then we can say that our joint work with the United States in the fight against terrorist organizations, including along the Syrian track, will be significantly improved and intensified.” The goals would be to halt the rain of bombs on Aleppo and to give breathing space to a United Nations-led effort to find a political end to Syria’s war between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, which are backed by Russia, and an array of insurgents seeking to depose him.
Underlining the Kremlin’s close links to the parties involved, however, Mr. Putin said Moscow would have to consult with Damascus and Tehran on any attempts to improve the situation in Syria. “The faster we can offer some relief to folks on ground,” Mr. Obama said, “the better off we’re going to be.”
Mr. Obama’s comments came at the end of his last G-20 summit meeting, a gathering that served to dramatize both his lame-duck status and the changed world that his successor will face. At his own news conference in Hangzhou, Mr. Putin said the Syria talks were on the “right track,” though he declined to discuss details of a deal. He expressed hope that an agreement could be reached “in the next few days,” despite earlier disagreements.
The president got a rough reception from the Chinese on his arrival in Hangzhou on Saturday, after a dispute over which stairs would be pushed up to Air Force One resulted in him departing the plane from a little-used door in the belly of the plane. Chinese security officials also jostled and shouted at members of Mr. Obama’s delegation. “Then we can say that our joint work with the United States in the fight against terrorist organizations, including along the Syrian track, will be significantly improved and intensified,” Mr. Putin said.
During a ceremonial photo with other leaders on Sunday, Mr. Putin and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, huddled with each other, speaking intently. A curious Mr. Obama looked over them at them from the other side of the group. Russia and Turkey have had deep tensions over Syria. But they have begun talking more in recent weeks, at the same time that Turkey’s ties with the United States have frayed. Mr. Obama’s appearance was his last at the Group of 20, a gathering of industrialized nations that is supposed to focus on economic issues but often finds those matters eclipsed by war and terrorism. He reminisced about his first meeting, in 2009, when the world was still reeling from the financial crisis. This time, the meeting dramatized both his lame-duck status and the changed world that his successor will inherit.
Mr. Obama remains a central figure, but there was a palpable sense at this gathering that the world is waiting for a new president to reset American policies on Syria, Ukraine and North Korea. On Sunday, during a photograph session with the other leaders, Mr. Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey huddled with each other. A curious Mr. Obama peered at them from the other side of the room. Tensions between Russia and Turkey have escalated over Syria, but the two countries’ leaders have begun talking more in recent weeks, just as Turkey’s ties with the United States have frayed.
On Syria, the president left the diplomatic heavy lifting to Mr. Kerry, who met twice with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. On Sunday, the Americans were confident enough of success that they scheduled a news conference to announce a cease-fire agreement, erecting two lecterns for the two negotiators. Mr. Obama had a rough welcome in Hangzhou on Saturday, when a dispute over the stairs he would use to exit Air Force One left him disembarking from a door in the belly of the plane. Some China experts interpreted it as a snub of a departing leader by a rising power.
But State Department officials hastily removed one, and Mr. Kerry turned up to report that the United States and Russia had been unable to get past a handful of “tough issues,” as he put it. The divisions were not bridged by Mr. Obama in his meeting with Mr. Putin. On his departure, however, the Chinese arranged for a shiny set of stairs with a strip of blue lights beneath the railing to be rolled up to the plane.
Mr. Obama has been openly skeptical of the prospects of a durable deal involving the Russians. It was clear that his suspicions were not dispelled in the meeting with Mr. Putin. Mr. Obama recalled the failure of a previous cessation of hostilities that the United States had brokered with Russia. Mr. Obama remains a central figure in conversations on a variety of issues, including Iran and international economics. But there was a palpable sense on his Asia trip that the world was awaiting a new president to reassess American policies in Syria, Ukraine and North Korea.
“Slowly, it unwound, and we’re back to a situation in which Assad’s regime is bombing with impunity,” he said. “That is a very dangerous dynamic.” On Syria, Mr. Obama left the diplomatic heavy lifting to Mr. Kerry, who met twice in Hangzhou with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. On Sunday, the Americans were confident enough of success that they scheduled a briefing to announce a cease-fire agreement, erecting two lecterns for the secretary of state and foreign minister.
After his news conference, Mr. Obama departed for Laos, where he will become the first American president to visit. The president will take part in an Asian regional summit meeting, that of the Asean nations, and will speak at a town-hall meeting with young people. Soon afterward, State Department officials hastily removed one, and Mr. Kerry turned up alone to report that the United States and Russia had been unable to move past a handful of “tough issues.” The talks continued, though, with the Russians appearing more eager than the Americans to elevate them to the presidential level.
The United States and Laos have a difficult relationship, four decades after American warplanes dropped 270 million bombs on the country during the C.I.A.’s undeclared war there. Mr. Obama said the United States would pledge additional funding to help clear unexploded bombs from the Laotian countryside. Mr. Obama has been openly skeptical of the likelihood of a durable deal involving the Russians. After the meeting with Mr. Putin, it was clear his suspicions had not been dispelled. He recalled the failure of the previous deal that the United States had made with Russia.
“Their capacity alone to clean that up is hampered by lack of resources,” he said, “and we should help.” “Slowly, it unwound, and we’re back into a situation in which Assad’s regime is bombing with impunity,” he said. “That is a very dangerous dynamic.”
While in Laos, Mr. Obama had also planned to meet the new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, who will be there for the Asean meeting. But on Monday, Mr. Duterte threatened to unleash a stream of profanity-laden vitriol at the American leader if Mr. Obama pressed him on the drug war in the Philippines. As he often does, Mr. Obama characterized his exchange with Mr. Putin as blunt and businesslike. There was no shortage of thorny subjects. The president said they had discussed computer security, though he declined to say whether he had brought up allegations that Russia breached the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee.
With that, Mr. Obama suggested he was having second thoughts. “Clearly, he’s a colorful guy,” Mr. Obama said. “I always want to make sure if I’m having a meeting that it’s productive.” “We’ve had trouble with cyber intrusions from Russia in the past,” he said. “We’re moving into a new era.”
Mr. Obama is also hoping to turn the page in Laos. The ostensible reason for the visit is two regional conferences that will give the president a chance to promote his strategy of pivoting to Asia: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the East Asia Summit.
But Laos has other resonance for Mr. Obama, who has made a vocation, from Cuba to Myanmar, of opening ties to closed societies. The United States and Laos have a difficult relationship that dates to the C.I.A.’s undeclared war in the 1960s and ’70s, when American warplanes dropped 270 million bombs on this country, many of which are still buried in fields and forests.
Mr. Obama, administration officials said, would pledge millions of dollars in additional funding to help clear unexploded ordnance from the Laotian countryside.
“Since Laos is still a relatively poor country that is developing, their capacity alone to clean that up is hampered by lack of resources,” he said. “We should help.”
First, though, the president canceled a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with the leader of the Philippines, one of America’s allies in Southeast Asia, according to The Associated Press. Earlier in the day, the new Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, delivered a profanity-laced diatribe against Mr. Obama, calling him, among other things, a “son of a bitch.”
Mr. Duterte threatened to do so again face to face if the president challenged his inflammatory words or his unorthodox tactics in his country’s drug war.
Mr. Obama has yet to meet Mr. Duterte, and the timing would have been important: The Philippines is in the midst of a dangerous tug-of-war with China over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
Still, Mr. Obama questioned the wisdom of putting Mr. Duterte and himself in a room together. “I always want to make sure if I’m having a meeting that it’s actually productive,” he said.
“Clearly, he’s a colorful guy,” Mr. Obama added.