Putin, Obama discuss Syria in phone call

MOSCOW

AP photo

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to intensify diplomatic and other cooperation by implementing an agreement on Syria struck at talks in Munich, the Kremlin said on Feb. 14. 

Major powers agreed on Feb. 12 to a temporary “cessation of hostilities” in Syria. The pause was due to begin in a week’s time. 

After phone talks between Putin and Obama on Feb. 14, the Kremlin said both gave a “positive valuation” to the meeting on Syria in Munich on Feb. 11-12. 

“In particular, support was expressed to the efforts of two target groups: For a ceasefire and humanitarian aspects,” the Kremlin said. 

The Kremlin added that during the talks, the need to establish close working contacts between Russia’s and U.S.’ defence ministries was underlined, which would allow them to “successfully fight the Islamic State [of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL] and other terroristic organizations.” 

The Kremlin also said that Putin spoke with Obama about the importance of creating a united anti-terrorism front. They also discussed the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
   
Meanwhile, in an interview with Euronews on Feb. 14, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was the only legitimate force in the country and his ousting would result in “chaos.”   

“You can like that or not, but he’s the president in power,” he said, according to remarks dubbed in English.
“If we pull him out from this structure, there will be chaos - like we’ve seen more than once in many Middle Eastern countries.”