Spotlight: Russia-U.S. compromise on Syrian crisis sends positive signal, experts say

Focused mainly on the Syrian crisis, Monday's meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama seemed to give a green light to the airstrikes carried out by Russian air forces in Syria, which started Wednesday and are expected to last for a period of time, Russian experts said.

In spite of distinct disputes on such issues as the Ukraine crisis and the Syrian conflict, the two countries managed to coordinate, sending a positive signal regarding the improvement of bilateral relations and their readiness to cooperate more on solving international issues, the experts said.

"The start of a dialogue between the two leaders, even if the conversation is of technical nature, can serve as a basis for the future unlocking of relations, although the conditions for such are not yet ripe currently," Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center, told Xinhua.

Andrei Kortunov, director-general of the Russian Council for International Affairs, said the Putin-Obama meeting suggested progress have been made through other channels, and "signals would be given to relevant departments and officials on both sides to resume consultations on the most pressing issues such as the Syrian crisis."

The situation in the Middle East is replacing the Ukraine crisis as the new point of serious disagreement between Moscow and Washington, Kolesnikov said, adding that under the new circumstances, "some cooperation, even (if it is) only technical, is necessary."

Both experts expected the top leaders' meeting to push either cooperation on the Syrian crisis or coordination on the Ukraine crisis toward greater policy convergence.

"It is a positive thing that convergence of positions on some issues is emerging," Kortunov said while reminding that "no cardinal shift or resetting of Russia-U.S. relations can be expected" as the two countries have too many differences on major issues of world politics.

Also considering the upcoming presidential election and the policy-making structure in the United States, Obama with his power limited can not make any fundamental decisions, Kortunov said.

Konstantin Sivkov, vice president of Russian Academy of Geopolitical Problems, thought the Putin-Obama meeting showed the U.S. intention to "try to involve Russia in the American project to stabilize the situations in the Middle East."

"Washington recognized that without Russia's participation, it is impossible to normalize the situation in places where the U.S. has created civil unrest and war," Sivkov said.

Experts said that the meeting with Putin is conducive to Obama's efforts to show the image of a responsible world leader and to alleviate the rising tensions in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, "Putin will earn a lot of points with his Russian audiences and electorate, as he dictates his own rules and attempts to create a new world order," Kolesnikov said.

Under any circumstances, the dialogue between the two powers should go on as the Russian-U.S. relations are crucial to resolve international issues regarding global peace, all the experts believe. Endi