Russian President Vladimir Putin says he and U.S. President Barack Obama have taken another step forward on moving to resolve the crisis in Syria.

Putin made the comments on September 5 after the two leaders discussed the issue at the G20 summit in China.

"Despite everything, we have some alignment of positions and an understanding of what we could do to de-escalate the situation in Syria," Putin told reporters, without providing more details.

He said he felt he and Obama had understood each other and the challenges the world faced in Syria.

Obama described his meeting with Putin as "businesslike" and said they discussed ongoing negotiations between their top diplomats over Syria.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP