Syria crisis: Russia and US 'no closer'

 President Barack Obama gives a news conference

The US and Russia have not bridged their differences over the issue of possible military action in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin says.

Mr Putin said it was "counter-productive" to destabilise the situation in the Middle East.

His comments came in a news conference on the final day of the G20 summit in St Petersburg.

US President Barack Obama had been pushing for support among leaders at the G20 for a US strike on Syria.

The US government accuses President Bashar al-Assad's forces of killing 1,429 people in a poison-gas attack in the Damascus suburbs on 21 August.

Mr Assad has blamed rebels for the attack. China and Russia, which have refused to agree to a UN Security Council resolution against Syria, insist any action without the UN would be illegal.

Mr Putin said the discussions about Syria on Thursday evening had gone on well past midnight.

He added that he had a one-to-one meeting with Mr Obama in which they had discussed Syria.

Both men had listened to the other's position but had not agreed, he said.

Also speaking at the end of the summit, Mr Obama said there was a "unanimous" view that chemical weapons had been used in Syria.

He also said most leaders present at the summit thought it was most likely that the regime of President Assad was responsible.

However, Mr Putin described the use of chemical weapons as "a provocation on the part of the militants who are expecting to get support from outside".