Moscow, Oct 4 (IANS/ITAR -TASS): The Kremlin is sorry the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama will not take place at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian leader, told reporters Friday.

“We are sorry the meeting will not take place,” he said, adding that bilateral relations needed a lot of summit-level meetings.

Peskov stated there were several issues, both bilateral and international, that needed to be discussed, the foremost one being the situation in Syria.

“We realise the situation (in the US), which has been developing now. We hope the situation will be settled and will be expecting another opportunity to organise a bilateral meeting,” Peskov said.

Earlier, Russia’s Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov had informed the media about preparations for the meeting between Putin and Obama during the APEC summit in Indonesia’s Bali, scheduled for Oct 7.

However, due to the US government shutdown and the continuing negotiations with the Congress, Obama cancelled his visit to Indonesia.