A White House official described the final differences as “technical” and related to implementation of the agreement.
An agreement, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have been negotiating, would increase cooperation between Washington and Moscow in Syria and implement a cease-fire to provide humanitarian relief.
“It was constructive,” the White House official said of the meeting. “And we’ll see in coming days whether on Syria we can reach a near-term agreement. If we cannot get the type of agreement we want, we will walk away from that effort.”
The two leaders also discussed “cyber issues,” but the official didn`t say whether Mr. Obama raised possible Russian involvement in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
U.S. officials had planned to announce a Syria deal on Sunday, but then abruptly said some last-minute issues that they didn`t specify arose.
The U.S. official said “there was some backsliding” by Russia during talks over the last two days, but the two sides are now at the same place in talks that they were at the start of the negotiations in China on Saturday.
On Sunday, Mr. Obama expressed skepticism that the U.S. and Russia could reach a deal, and if so, that Mr. Putin would abide by it over the long term. The U.S. has entered into agreements with Russia on Syria and Ukraine, only to have them unravel.
Before Monday, Messrs. Obama and Putin last met in November on the margins of the Paris climate conference.
Mr. Obama is also hoping to convince Russia to abide by cease-fire and peace agreements on Ukraine reached in 2015 in Belarus’s capital, Minsk. The White House official said Mr. Obama “made clear to President Putin that sanctions will continue on Russia if Minsk isn`t fully implemented.”
Mr. Obama described the discussion on Ukraine as constructive but not conclusive.
Prior to meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Obama discussed the issue with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande.
The White House sees progress on Syria as the top priority before Mr. Obama leaves office in January.
Under a plan Mr. Kerry put forward in July, the U.S. and Russia would share information and coordinate air attacks against the Syria Conquest Front, which was formerly known as the Nusra Front and was linked to al Qaeda. In exchange, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s air force would halt all operations, and U.S. and Russian airstrikes would target only Islamic State and the Syria Conquest Front.
Messrs. Obama and Putin discussed plans for a political transition in Syria that were developed by the United Nations representative Staffan de Mistura, the official said, adding that the hope is a deal between the U.S. and Russia could give momentum to that broader effort.
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