A private meeting between Prime Minister Harper and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to settle their sharp differences over Syria.
   
The 18-month uprising against the regime of hardline President Bashar Assad has left at least 23-thousand people dead.
   
Harper said Assad must go — and he urged Putin to play a more positive role to end the bloodshed in Syria.
   
Putin, however, supports Assad, and at the end of their private meeting at the APEC summit in the Russian port of Vladivostok, the two leaders agreed to disagree on Syria.