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VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — While the cameras whirred, they were all smiles and warmth as they waxed on about the hockey ties that bind Canada and Russia.

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But when it came to ending the bloodshed in Syria, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Vladimir Putin disagreed sharply once they retreated behind closed doors.

In many respects, Harper’s meeting with his APEC host in Vladivostok on Saturday demonstrated the distance he has travelled in six years to become a confident world statesman. And it also illustrated the gap that remains between the West and Russia on the crisis in Syria, the Kremlin’s long-time Middle East ally.

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Harper urged Putin to be less obstructive toward ending the violence in Syria, where President Bashar Assad has battled an 18-month uprising that has left at least 23,000 his citizens dead.

“Obviously, the government of Russia and ourselves have very different perspectives on this,” Harper said.