Trump and Putin met for the first time in a highly anticipated sit-down at the G20, with repercussions for Trump’s political standing and security around the world
The deal marks a new level of involvement for the U. S. in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war. Although details about the agreement and how it will be implemented weren’ t immediately available, the cease-fire is set to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, said the officials, who weren’ t authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
As that news broke, Trump and Putin met for the first time one-on-one.
“President Putin and I have been discussing various things, ” Trump said as the meeting began. “We look forward to a lot of positive things happening, for Russia, for the United States.” He said it was “an honour” to meet with Putin.
The Russian president noted that the two men have spoken by phone several times, “but phone conversation is never enough definitely, ” Putin said. “I hope as you have said, our meeting will yield positive results.”
It’s the first meeting between the two men following Trump taking office in January, with the backdrop of a U. S. intelligence finding that Russia meddled in the U. S. election in an attempt to help Trump. The meeting included only Trump, Putin, U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and two translators.
The latest attempt at a ceasefire in Syria may be the first fruits of that meeting.
Jordan and Israel also are part of the agreement, one of the officials said. The two U. S. allies both share a border with the southern part of Syria and have been concerned about violence from Syria’s civil war spilling over the border.
The deal is separate from “de-escalation zones” that were to be created under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year. The U. S. was not a part of that deal. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach agreement.
The U. S. and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war, with Moscow supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and Washington supporting rebels who have been fighting Assad. Both the U. S. and Russia oppose the Islamic State group in Syria.
The U. S. has been wary of letting Iran gain influence in Syria — a concern shared by Israel and Jordan, neither of which wants Iranian-aligned troops amassing near their territories. A U. S.-brokered deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the power vacuum left behind as the Islamic State is routed from additional territory in Syria.
Though U. S. and Russian officials had been discussing a potential deal for some time, it didn’ t reach fruition until the run-up to Trump’s meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Germany, officials said.
Before Trump’s meeting with Putin, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signalled that Syria’s civil war would be high on the agenda. Tillerson said in a statement before departing for Germany for the meeting that the U. S. remained open to co-operating with Russia through “joint mechanisms” to lower violence in Syria, potentially including no-fly zones.
“If our two countries work together to establish stability on the ground, it will lay a foundation for progress on the settlement of Syria’s political future, ” Tillerson said on Wednesday.
