Obama, Medvedev acknowledge differences on Syria

SEOUL — President Obama huddled on Monday with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and China's Hu Jintao as the Obama administration continues its public press on the two countries to withdraw their support of Bashar Assad's regime in Syria.

Obama and Medvedev acknowledged their two countries have more work to do to bridge their differences on Syria and other issues.

In what will likely be the last meeting between the two leaders in their current offices, Obama and the outgoing Russian president huddled for 90 minutes on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit to talk about Syria, Iran and missile defense.

On the issue of Syria, there are stark differences between Russia and the United States. The Kremlin has placed the onus on opposition forces to end the bloodshed, while the White House has demanded that the Syrian government immediately pull back its forces from population centers.

"We need to make sure that we not end up in greater problems than we already have, and that the threat of the civil war is averted, that it does not become reality, and that this mission would lead to dialogue between all the groups that exist in the country and government authorities," Medvedev said.

Russia is perhaps the biggest supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and, along with China, has blocked the U.N. Security Council from pressing tougher sanctions against the Assad regime. Last week, Russia and China did embrace a Security Council statement in support of efforts by special envoy Kofi Annan to negotiate a cease-fire in the conflict, funnel aid to victims and begin a political transition.

At Monday's meeting, both Obama and Medvedev agreed they could find common ground in backing Annan's mission, but the two sides still appear to be deeply divided on the issues.

"On Syria, although there had been some differences over the last several months, we both agree that we should be supportive of Kofi Annan's efforts to try to end some of the bloodshed that's taking place within Syria and move towards a mechanism that would allow for the Syrian people ultimately to have a representative and legitimate government that serves their interest," Obama said

Despite the differences, Medvedev said in brief comments with reporters that relations between the two countries were the best they've been in decades. The Russian president invited Obama to visit his hometown of St. Petersburg, but said he understood if he couldn't make it until after the November election.

"He is absolutely right that my next visit to Russia will undoubtedly be after my election," Obama said.