Putin and Obama agree to negotiate Syria in Geneva talks

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama have agreed to push the sides of the ongoing Syrian conflict to the negotiating table in Geneva. The leaders made the pledge after a 2 hour meeting at the G8 summit.

“We have agreed to push the sides of the Syrian conflict to come to the negotiating table at the international Geneva conference,” Putin said.

“On some points, we still have a different stance, but we are united by an aspiration to prevent violence, to put an end to the growing number of victims, to solve the problem by peaceful means, including through negotiations at the international conference at Geneva,” the Russian President added.

President Obama conceded that he has a “different perspective” on Syria than his Russian counterpart, but confirmed that both countries have a shared interest in stopping the violence and “securing chemical weapons” in Syria.

“We do have differing perspectives on the problem but we share an interest in reducing the violence, securing chemical weapons and ensuring that they’re neither used nor are they subject to proliferation,” Obama said. “We want to try to resolve the issue through political means if possible.”

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