KERRY TALKS TOUGH IN SYRIA ENCOUNTER WITH RUSSIA
Geneva — Striking a tough tone, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened talks with Russia on Syria’s chemical weapons Thursday by rejecting Syria’s pledge to begin a “standard process” by turning over information rather than weapons — and not immediately.
That won’t do, Kerry declared at an opening news conference, a stone-faced Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at his side. “The words of the Syrian regime in our judgment are simply not enough.”
“This is not a game,” Kerry said of the latest developments in a series that has rapidly gone from deadly chemical attacks to threats of retaliatory U.S. air strikes to Syrian agreement with a Russian plan to turn over the weapons and, finally, to the crucial matter of working out the difficult details.
Kerry kept alive the threat of U.S. military action, saying the turnover of weapons must be complete, verifiable and timely — “and finally, there ought to consequences if it doesn’t take place.”
Geneva — U. S.- Russian talks over eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons began here Thursday on a wary note, as Secretary of State John Kerry said U.S. military forces remained poised to attack Syria if a credible agreement is not rapidly reached and implemented.
Syrian President Bashar Assad added to the tension by saying that he is willing to cede his chemical arsenal to international control — but only if the United States stops threatening military action and arming rebel forces trying to unseat him.
Assad, in an interview with a Russian television station, said he is prepared to sign the ban and would adhere to its “standard procedure” of handing over stockpile data a month later.
Kerry made clear that he had a much shorter time frame in mind and that Assad was not a party to the negotiations. “There is nothing ‘ standard’ about this process,” he said. “The words of the Syrian regime, in our judgment, are simply not enough.”
After an hour-long session to outline the logistics and agenda for the talks, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov departed for a joint dinner with their deputies, while U.S. and Russian teams of technical experts stayed behind to iron out the details. Asenior State Department official said the full delegations would reconvene this morning.
The emergency talks are aimed at laying down a blueprint for international seizure of the weapons that the United States has said Syrian forces used to gas to death more than 1,400 people last month near Damascus. Russia, Syria’s main backer and weapons supplier, offered Monday to negotiate the issue, after President Barack Obama sent warships to the Mediterranean and asked Congress to authorize a military strike against the Syrian government for its chemical weapons use.
The legislation, an uphill battle for Obama amid skepticism from lawmakers, is on hold pending the outcome of what are likely to be two days of talks in Geneva. The pause button also has been hit at the United Nations, where the United States, Britain and France have been readying a Security Council resolution designed to authorize the use of force if Syria does not adhere to any U.S.-Russia agreement.
As Kerry and Lavrov met behind closed doors, public statements flew between Moscow and Washington.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an open letter to “the American people and their political leaders” published on The New York Times opinion pages, said any use of force was a violation of international law and would constitute an illegal “act of aggression.”
The United States, he said, was developing a habit of military intervention that had given the country an image of preferring “brute force” over democracy. Noting Obama’s reference to “American exceptionalism” during a Tuesday night address on Syria, Putin wrote, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”