The United States and Russia have reached an agreement on chemical weapons in the hands of the Syrian regime. This was announced by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, after talks in Geneva with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, who described the outcome of the negotiations as "excellent".
"Syria - said Kerry - must provide a list of its chemical weapons within a week". The secretary of state added that agreement had been reached on the method to remove and destroy the Syrian chemical arsenal. Washington and Moscow also agree that Syria must allow UN inspectors (who "must be on Syrian territory no later than November," Kerry explained) to inspect all the sites.
The US-Russia agreement contains nothing on the possible use of force, Lavrov specified. However, Kerry evoked recourse to chapter 7 of the UN charter in the event of Damascus failing to comply with the plan.
"If diplomacy fails, the United States and the international community must be ready to act", said US President Barack Obama, reiterating that the US "will maintain its military positions in the region to maintain pressure on the Assad regime. If there is a chance to achieve our goals without the use of force, we have a responsibility to pursue it, but any agreement will have to be based on the possibility of verifying the commitments made by the Assad regime and Russia. This means working to bring chemical weapons into Syria under international control, and then destroy them."
