Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants to avert an attack on his country, he should hand over all of his chemical weapons–and do it quick.
Today Russia, Syria’s most important ally, has welcomed the idea.
According to reports, the nation’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said that Russia would join any effort to wrangle international control of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons–and ultimately destroy them.
“We don’t know whether Syria will agree with this, but if the establishment of international control over chemical weapons in the country will prevent attacks, then we will immediately begin work with Damascus,” Lavrov said. “And we call on the Syrian leadership to not only agree to setting the chemical weapons storage sites under international control, but also to their subsequent destruction.”
Joseph Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation, and a member of Secretary Kerry’s International Security Advisory Board, joins The Takeaway to discuss whether this plan might work.
Watch a video of Sec. Kerry’s remarks here:
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