VLADIMIR PUTIN has reiterated that support for Syria’s government is the only way to defeat Islamic State (Isis), ahead of a meeting with Barack Obama yesterday.

The Russian president (pictured) was set to meet his US counterpart Mr Obama on the sidelines of the annual UN general assembly session in New York.

While the White House claimed that the meeting would focus on the civil war in Ukraine, the Kremlin insisted that the first item on the agenda would be the Syrian conflict.