Obama, Putin to step up military coordination in Syria

President Vladimir Putin called US President Barack Obama on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing situation in Syria and the need for better “coordination” between the two countries, the Kremlin has said.

Putin called for encouraging moderate Syrian opposition to disengage quickly from the al-Nusra Front, a rebel group linked to al-Qaeda and designated by both countries as a terrorist entity. 

The Kremlin said the two leaders also reaffirmed their readiness to “build up coordination of Russian and US actions in Syria in the military sphere,” and noted the importance of resuming peace talks.

This was the second interaction between the two leaders in a week, as on Monday Putin sent a July Fourth message to the American president in the hope that ties between the two countries will get back on track.

Relations between Moscow and Washington hit a post-Cold War low in 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind separatists in eastern Ukraine.

This was the second interaction between the two leaders in a week, as on Monday Putin sent a July Fourth message to the American president

The Kremlin, however, has recently sought rapprochement with the United States.

In the Independence Day message released by the Kremlin, Putin recalled the history of Russia-US ties, saying that at one time the two countries were able to solve “the most difficult international problems to the benefit of both our nations and all humankind.”

Putin expressed hope that this experience will help the two countries get back to working together.