Putin and Obama hold talks at UN
UNITED NATIONS, United States: US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin shook hands in front of the cameras but refused to answer any questions before going behind closed doors for their meeting.
Russian media reported that both presidents had their tight schedules and had only 55 minutes to complete their bilateral talks.
It may be mentioned that both held their first substantial bilateral talks in two years after Ukraine crises intensified and US-backed government in Kiev started war with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier, US President Obama in his speech before the UN General Assembly denounced Russian President Putin for supporting Syria’s “tyrant” ruler and the Putin blamed the rise of the Islamic State on failed US interventions in the Middle East.
“The pair’s greeting was perfunctory — a brief handshake with barely perceptible smiles in front of two Russian and two US flags. Earlier, they had been photographed staring frostily at each other as they exchanged an awkward toast at a UN lunch”, reported AFP news agency.
It may be mentioned that US and Russian are enjoying their lowest level of diplomatic relations since the Cold War last due to US intervention in Ukraine politics and Russian support to separatists in eastern Ukraine and seizing Crimea and annexing it to its territory.
Their relations deteriorated due to Syrian war in past because US has been supporting rebels in Syria while Russia is now openly providing weapons to Syrian government. Their relations have worsened further in recent weeks due to presence of Russian weapons in Syria.
“The pair has not had a substantial face-to-face meeting since a bilateral get-together on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in 2013, although they had a brief frosty encounter at the APEC meeting in Beijing last year”, AFP reported.
