OUTGOING US President Barack Obama sought to shore up Nato and free trade deals over lunch with European leaders yesterday.

Mr Obama dined in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British PM Theresa May and their Italian and Spanish counterparts Matteo Renzi and Mariano Rajoy.

A White House statement said the five had “affirmed the importance of continued co-operation through multilateral institutions, including Nato.”

Ms May said they were “united in our condemnation” of Syria and Russia’s campaign against foreign-backed insurgents, which is now gaining momentum.

The leaders agreed to maintain sanctions against Russia over its reunification with Crimea in 2014 following the far-right Maidan Square coup in Ukraine, although resistance to the sanctions is growing among EU states.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said sanctions would not stop Moscow improving relations with other countries.

“We have never initiated sanctions. These don’t prevent us from building dialogue and continuing the dialogue on matters that are of interest to us, to Russia,” he said.

US president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to kill off free trade deals and co-operate with Russian President Vladimir Putin on fighting terrorism in Syria.

On Thursday night, Mr Obama urged his successor to “stand up” to “military superpower” Russia. “My hope is that he does not simply take a realpolitik approach,” he said.

Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov accused the Obama administration of “doing everything it can to drive bilateral ties into such a deadlock that would make it difficult for a new team to get them out from, if it wishes to do so.”

He claimed the phone call between Mr Putin and Mr Trump had showed a “shared desire to join efforts in the fight against terrorism” creating a “good basis for future work on the Syrian problem.”

Following the meeting, Mr Obama flew to Peru’s capital Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said yesterday Mr Trump’s election and the Brexit vote showed “protectionist tendencies” overtaking the neoliberal consensus.

He said: “We can assume that President Putin and President Obama will cross paths on the sidelines of the forum and talk.”

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