Zeenews Bureau
Mexico: After days of acrimony between Washington and Moscow, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Tuesday that the bloodshed in Syria must stop and that “Syrians themselves” must choose their own future.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit at Los Cabos Mexico, the two leaders discussed Syria where the violence has and came out with a joint statement that said, "In order to stop the bloodshed in Syria, we call for an immediate cessation of all violence… We are united in the belief that the Syrian people should have the opportunity to independently and democratically choose their own future."
The two leaders have been at loggerheads over how to resolve the crisis in Syria as Russia and China have twice blocked the UN-resolution on Syria.
Coming out of meeting, Putin said he and Obama got "many common points" on Syria.
"We agreed that we need to see a cessation of the violence, that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war," Obama told reporters after the talks, which went on for some two hours - longer than originally planned.
The United States and Russia share a goal of a "political transition to a democratic, pluralistic political system that would be implemented by the Syrians themselves," a joint statement issued on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit said.
The G-20 gathering is a natural forum for sideline discussions of the urgent crisis in Syria as well as diplomatic efforts to head off a confrontation with Iran. The European fiscal crisis was the main topic for the 20 leaders when they convened later Monday.
