Obama, Putin Exchange Views on Syrian Issue

The U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin put forth their opinions on how to solve the Syrian crisis in New York on Monday and called for broader cooperation, while competing visions remained.

"The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict," said Barack Obama, at the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday.

Meanwhile, accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of killing tens of thousands of his own people, Obama said the world must recognize that "there cannot be a return to the prewar status quo" in Syria.

"We must recognize that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo, " Obama said.

Obama's remarks came amid U.S. concerns about Russia's recent military buildup in Syria and after the announcement on Sunday of an understanding among Iran, Iraq and Syria to share intelligence about the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, also took to the center stage at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday. He put forth Russia's vision on how to solve the Syrian crisis and fight against Islamic State, calling on a broad anti-terrorism coalition that would help fight against Islamic State.

He reiterated his support for Syrian government at the UNGA general debate.

"We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face to face," he said.

With more than 500,000 migrants pouring into Europe this year, many looking to escape the violence in Syria, pressure is mounting to act.

"Russia’s main goal in Syria is to help this country achieve stability. And secondly, to engage in a fight with what I think is the main threat to global security - Islamic State. These two things are connected with each other," said Vladimir Sazhin, a professor at Eastern Studies Institute.

"This speech is a way out of isolation and its 100 percent guaranteed that there will be attention in the world of this speech and towards Putin's proposals. For us it's very important that on the basis of this speech we can formulate some concrete ideas. And what is more important we can push a little bit at least, the Western side for concrete talks, but not only discussions on the phone," said Andrey Fyodorov, a Russian political analyst.

Obama and Putin are scheduled to meet later on the day.