Obama has 'blunt' meeting with Putin but 'gaps of trust'

President Barack Obama wrapped up his final G20 meetings Monday confronting two of his prickly global counterparts, saying his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was "candid, blunt and businesslike" and that bombastic comments from his Philippine counterpart could lead to a planned meeting this week being scrubbed. 


Obama said his talks with Putin included a direct message about cyber war, seen as a warning to Russia.
"We're moving into a new era here where a number of countries have significant capacities," Obama said at a news conference at the conclusion of the summit. "Frankly, both offensively and defensively, we have more capacity."
Obama, who had just come from a 90-minute session with Putin on the sidelines of the summit, also pointedly noted, "We've had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia and other countries in the past."
Obama said, however, that he wouldn't comment about "specific investigations that are still live and active," an apparent reference to the hack of the Democratic National Committee. While the White House has not yet named a culprit, US officials have pinned the breach on Russia.
His words on cyber weren't the only ones that pointed to areas of tension with the Russian leader.
On Syria, the topic that occupied most of their conversation, Obama said that he and Putin have had "productive conversations" about negotiating a "real cessation of hostilities" in Syria but that "gaps of trust" have prevented reaching an agreement.
"Given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation, and we haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work," Obama said.
But he noted that he'd tasked Secretary of State John Kerry with resuming talks about a ceasefire

Source: NNA