Obama stresses common ground with Putin

LOS CABOS, Mexico -- Seeking common ground, President Barack Obama said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Monday on the need for a political process in Syria to prevent civil war in the violence-torn country and said any tensions between the United States and Russia can be worked out.

They were meeting, for the first time since Putin returned to the presidency, amid friction over Syria and with recognition they need each other, an uncomfortable truth for Obama as he wages a tough re-election campaign and for the Russian leader, who is deeply suspicious of the United States.

The meeting was one of two major foreign policy challenges preoccupying Obama during his two days at the Group of 20 economic meeting. Much of the rest of the summit was to be devoted to the European fiscal crisis and the fate of Greece as a part of the euro zone. A pro-euro candidate is trying to form a Greek coalition government following elections Sunday, but the anti-austerity second-place party has refused.

Obama said that on Syria the two "agreed that we need to see a cessation of the violence, that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war and the kind of horrific events that we've seen over the last several weeks, and we pledged to work with other international actors, including the United Nations, Kofi Annan, and all interested parties in trying to find a resolution to this problem."

Putin, seated next to Obama following their two-hour meeting, said: "From my perspective we've been able to find many commonalities" on Syria.

Neither mentioned President Bashar Assad by name in their public remarks or in a joint statement after their meeting, thus avoiding any express reference to past U.S. demands that Assad step down.

Beyond Syria, Obama and Putin discussed diplomatic efforts to head off a confrontation with Iran. Obama said he emphasized a common approach, asserting there was "still time and space to resolve diplomatically" concerns about nuclear weapons.

The United States has sought Russia's help to lend legitimacy to the argument that Iran faces broad international condemnation. Iran usually paints the dispute over its nuclear program as a confrontation with the United States and Israel, its ally.