19.09 Russia Ready to Help Eliminate Syrias Chemical Arsenal
VALDAI, Novgorod Region, September 19 (RIA Novosti) Russia is ready to help eliminate the Syrian governments chemical arsenal if the international community agrees, the Russian defense minister said Thursday.
If Russia is assigned a role in transporting or eliminating such weapons, naturally Russia will participate, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told reporters, adding that his country possessed adequate facilities for destroying such weapons.
On Saturday, after days of intense negotiations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart, John Kerry, announced an ambitious plan under which the Syrian governments entire chemical arsenal would be placed under international control by November and destroyed by mid-2014.
Syrian President Bashar Assad pledged on Wednesday to destroy his chemical arsenal, saying in an interview with American broadcaster Fox News that the process would take about a year.
On Thursday, Russias defense minister stressed that there were no currently plans to deploy Russian special forces to Syria. He added, though, that chemical-weapons experts could be sent to help bring that arsenal under international control.
Everything will go according to an established procedure, Shoigu said in northwest Russia on the sidelines of the annual Valdai discussion of national issues, a gathering that brings together many of the countrys top officials.
This is a big, serious job. We are only taking the first steps, he said, adding that it had yet to be decided whether the weapons would be destroyed on site or sent to facilities abroad.
