Obama, Putin clash over Syria's future

UNITED NATIONS -- U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin sharply disagreed Monday over the chaos in Syria, with Obama urging a political transition to replace the Syrian president but Putin warning it would be a mistake to abandon the current government.

After dueling speeches at the United Nations General Assembly, Obama and Putin also met privately for 90 minutes -- their first face-to-face encounter in nearly a year.

The discussions opened with a stony-faced handshake before the leaders slipped into their meeting room at U.N. headquarters.

In his address to the UN earlier Monday, Obama said he was open to working with Russia, as well as Iran, to bring Syria's civil war to an end. He called for a "managed transition" that would result in the ouster of Assad, whose forces have clashed with rebels for more than four years, creating a vacuum for the Islamic State and other extremist groups.

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

Putin, however, urged the world to stick with Assad, arguing his military is the only viable option for defeating the Islamic State.

"We believe it's a huge mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian authorities, with the government forces, those who are bravely fighting terror face-to-face," Putin said during his first appearance at the U.N. gathering in a decade.

Obama and Putin's disparate views of the situation in Syria left little indication of how the two countries might work together to end a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and resulted in a flood of refugees.

The Syria crisis largely overshadowed the summit's other discussions on peacekeeping, climate change and global poverty.

French President Francois Hollande backed Obama's call for Assad's ouster, saying "nobody can imagine" a political solution in Syria if he remains in power.

Hollande called on countries with influence in Syria, including Gulf nations and Iran, to be engaged in a transition. Iran, however -- which along with Russia is a strong backer of Assad -- said the Syrian president must remain in power to fight extremists.