While speaking to journalists after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bali on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised President Barack Obama for "averting tragedy" in Syria as their civil war continues, RIA Novosti reported.
His comments follow Russia's effort -- supported by the Obama administration -- to have Syria hand over all of their chemical weapons and destruct them. Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed to the compromise after the U.S. threatened to perform a drone strike on the war-torn country following the chemical weapons attack on Syrian rebels, which Assad claims he was not responsible for.
Putin explained that despite their different viewpoints on Syria, he and Obama share similar goals, which are "to democratize the situation, to create conditions under which all people living on this territory - people of different religions, ethnic groups - can live together in peace."
He also applauded Assad's government for, so far, peacefully cooperating with the international team taking control of Syria's chemical weapons.
"The Syrian government has swung into action, acting very transparently and assisting international organizations. I hope that this work will continue to proceed with the same pace and in the same spirit," Putin said.
The forum in Bali included a discussion about Syria's civil war, which has so far caused over 100,000 deaths, by Putin and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
The Obama administration is still certain that Assad's regime carried out the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in Damascus that claimed 1,400 lives. After gathering evidence to support their theory, the U.S. began recruiting international allies for a strike on Syria.
On the other hand, Putin said Russia had evidence to support Assad's theory of the chemical weapons being used by rebels to cause international military intervention. However, none of the evidence has been made public.
The U.S. officially stepped down from their threat of a strike after the United Nations Security Council created a plan to destroy all chemical weapons in Syria.
