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WORLD LEADERS gathered yesterday for a special United Nations summit on terrorism, a day after Russia and the United States clashed over the Syrian civil war.
US President Barack Obama chaired the session of the UN general assembly, while Russia will preside over a session on countering extremism today.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Mr Obama yesterday to discuss the conflict in Syria, after the two men had delivered opposing views on the situation to the assembly.
“Strange is it may seem, there were many common points,” Mr Putin told reporters after the meeting. “There were also disagreements on which we agreed to work together. I hope this work will be constructive.”
He said that Russia may contribute air power to Syria’s fight against Islamic State (Isis), but only with the backing of a UN security council resolution — and he ruled out deploying troops other than military advisers.
In his earlier address, Mr Obama had expressed a desire to work with Russia and Iran to end the four-year conflict that has killed 250,000 people — but only if they agree to US demands that the government of Bashar al-Assad must be removed.
His speech was greeted unenthusiastically by the gathered leaders as he tried to blame Russia for the Nato-provoked crisis in Ukraine and Iran for Middle East unrest.
French President Francois Hollande parroted Mr Obama’s call for regime change in Syria — the aim of the Western-backed rebellion.
But Mr Putin hit back, saying: “They aren’t citizens of Syria and so should not be involved in choosing the leadership of another country.”
He warned that that the exceptionalist imperial doctrine of intervention in other nations’ affairs, in contravention of the UN’s founding principles, had led to “tragic consequences and degradation rather than progress.”
“I cannot help asking those who have caused this situation: Do you realise now what you have done?” Mr Putin said.
“But I am afraid the question will hang in the air, because policies based on self-confidence and belief in one’s exceptionality and impunity have never been abandoned.”
