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Syria arms deal key to US, Russia’s efforts for peace
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Russia and the United States agreed a new push to negotiate an end to Syria’s civil war as they discussed a plan to destroy President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons in order to avert US air strikes.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met for a second day in Geneva to work on Moscow’s disarmament proposal.
Washington remains sceptical and Kerry has said US military action is still possible to punish Assad for a poison gas attack last month.
However, after meeting the UN envoy for Syria, both Kerry and Lavrov said progress in their talks could help relaunch their efforts to bring Syria’s warring sides together and negotiate an end to a conflict that has inflamed the Middle East and divided world powers since it began in 2011.
Kerry told a joint news conference: “We are committed to trying to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons, in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world.”
He hoped a date might be set for peace talks, but added: “Much will depend on the capacity to have success here in the next hours, days, on the subject of the chemical weapons.”
Talks with Lavrov, which also involved US and Russian weapons experts, are expected to last until late today in Geneva.
After meeting UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Lavrov and Kerry said they hoped to meet in New York in about two weeks, around September 28 during the UN General Assembly, to see if they could schedule a new international peace conference on Syria.
Lavrov, voicing regret at the failure of an international accord reached at Geneva last year, said he hoped a “Geneva 2” meeting could lead to a political settlement for Syria.
“We agreed to see where we are and see what the Syrian parties think about it and do about it,” he said.
Russia has resisted calls from Syrian rebels and Western and Arab leaders for Assad to make way for an interim transitional government.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning against what he calls Western interference in sovereign states without UN backing, says outsiders should not impose a settlement.
Syria formally applied to join a global poison gas ban — a move welcomed yesterday by Putin. Calling it “an important step” towards resolving the crisis, he said: “This confirms the serious intention of our Syrian partners to follow this path.”
But Kerry has underscored that Washington could still attack: “This is not a game,” he said on Thursday.
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