Obama: We have deep disagreements with Russia over Syria, but negotiations continue moment by moment

The President of the United States stated at a press conference during the G20 summit that negotiations to end the Syrian civil war between Washington and Moscow are continuing 'moment by moment,' although 'deep disagreements' remain and the outcome of the talks is not yet finalized. Barack Obama, on September 5, in Hangzhou, East China, said that discussions with Russia to reach any agreement on ending the fighting and the bloody crisis in Syria are key, but these discussions are difficult and deep disagreements still persist. Reuters quoted the U.S. President as saying that the United States has long been trying to reduce violence and improve the humanitarian situation in Syria, but without any concessions from Russia, it will be difficult to move these efforts to the next stage. The U.S. President stated that it is hard to be optimistic about establishing a ceasefire in Syria considering past experiences, but 'it is worth' testing the chances of engagement with Russia. According to the Associated Press, Obama said, 'It is still too early to say that a clear path forward is visible, but there is a possibility that we can at least make some progress.' These remarks come at a time when John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov, the foreign ministers of the United States and Russia, are advancing new negotiations regarding the Syrian crisis. Reports indicate that the goal of these negotiations is to find a way to increase military interactions and cooperation to establish a more sustainable ceasefire in Syria. Previous negotiations between representatives of the Syrian government and their opponents, as well as the countries supporting both sides, have yielded no results. Meanwhile, despite the establishment of ceasefires in various areas, some of these regions have repeatedly been targeted by extensive waves of violence and air and mortar attacks from the parties involved. The Syrian civil war has been ongoing for more than five years, resulting in between 250,000 to nearly half a million deaths and displacing half of the country's citizens. The United States is considered an opponent of Bashar al-Assad's government, while Russia supports the Syrian President.