[Al Ahram] Washington is not prepared to trust the word of the Syrian regime alone that it will rid itself of chemical weapons, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday."The words of the Syrian regime in our judgement are simply not enough, which is why we've come here in order to work with the Russians," Kerry told reporters in Geneva ahead of high-stakes talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the thorny issue of Syria's chemical weapons.
He warned it was also up to Russians to show that they could "deliver on the promise of the moment" after Moscow proposed a plan earlier this week to eliminate Syria's deadly weapons stock. But Kerry highlighted that the US and Russia still disagreed on who carried out a suspected sarin gas attack near Damascus last month, which Washington says killed 1,400 people.
"The Russian delegation has put some ideas forward and we're grateful for that. We respect it. And we have prepared our own principles that any plan to accomplish this needs to encompass," Kerry stressed, before a room packed with reporters from around the world.
"Expectations are high. They are high for the United States, perhaps even more so for Russia to deliver on the promise of this moment. This is not a game," he said.
Any deal to bring Syria's chemical weapons stockpile under international control "has to be credible. It has to be timely and implemented in a timely fashion," he said.
| "There, that's handled. Who's got my beer?" |