After US Secretary of State Kerry said rhetorically that the US would not strike Syria if it handed over all of its chemical weapons in a week, Foreign Minister Lavrov appeared to back the request in principle, saying that “[w]e have given our proposal to Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and are counting on a fast and, I hope, positive response.” Lavrov said: “[W]e are calling on the Syrian leadership to not only agree on placing chemical weapons storage sites under international control, but also on [their] subsequent destruction and fully joining the treaty on the prohibition of chemical weapons.” Russia asked the IAEA to assess the impact of possible US strikes on Syrian nuclear reactors.
