WASHINGTON, July 7: Ahead of the NATO summit, President Barack Obama spoke over the phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the situation in Syria and Ukraine, in addition to IS, the White House said today.
Obama and Putin, confirmed their commitment to defeating Islamic State and the Nusrah Front, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the White House said in a readout of the call.
“Obama also stressed the necessity for progress on a genuine political transition to end the conflict in Syria, as well as sustained humanitarian access, and expressed his support for the efforts of UN Special Representative for Syria Staffan de Mistura to make progress on those efforts,” it said.
On Syria, Obama emphasised his concerns over the failure of the Syrian regime to comply with the cessation of hostilities in Syria.
During the phone call, Obama stressed the importance of Russia pressing the Syrian regime for a lasting halt to offensive attacks against civilians and parties to the cessation, noting the importance of fully recommitting to the original terms of the cessation.
“On Ukraine, President Obama urged President Putin to take steps to end the significant uptick in fighting in eastern Ukraine and stressed the urgent importance of moving forward with full implementation of the Minsk agreements,” the White House said.
Obama also discussed with Putin his June 20 meeting with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsian of Armenia regarding the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“President Obama expressed his readiness to intensify efforts together with Russia and with France, as co-Chairs of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group, to achieve a comprehensive settlement to the conflict,” the White House said. (PTI)
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