Putin Bids to End Russian Isolation With Syria Message to UN
- Russian president due to meet Obama on Monday in New York
- Merkel echoing view that Assad may be part of solution
Putin Proposes Russian Peacemaker Role in Syrian Crisis
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President Vladimir Putin urged the U.S. and its allies to make common cause with Russia to defeat Islamic State as he tries to find a way out of the diplomatic isolation that followed the annexation of Crimea last year.
Speaking ahead of his first meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in almost a year, Putin said in an interview with Charlie Rose that “we would welcome a common platform for collective action against the terrorists.” There’s no choice but to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the fight against Islamic State, he said.