Al-Muallem:Syria welcomes Russia’s initiative

MOSCOW,(ST)_Foreign and Expatriates Minister Waleed al-Muallem  said on Monday “Syria welcomes a Russian proposal to place the nation’s chemical weapons under international control, praising the Kremlin for seeking to “prevent American aggression”.

Al-Mualem, who spoke to reporters through an interpreter after Russia expressed hope the proposal could avert military strikes against Syria.

“I state that the Syrian Arab Republic welcomes the Russian initiative, motivated by the Syrian leadership’s concern for the lives of our citizens and the security of our country, and also motivated by our confidence in the wisdom of the Russian leadership, which is attempting to prevent American aggression against our people,” he said.

Moscow proposes Syria’s chemical disarmament in exchange for peace

Russia has offered Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said,according to Voice of Russia.

After talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in Moscow, Lavrov called on Syria to “place the chemical weapons under international control and then have them destroyed”.

 “We have passed our offer to Al-Muallem [Syrian Foreign Minister] and hope to receive [a] fast and positive answer,” Sergey Lavrov said.

“We are calling on the Syrian government to reach agreements on the putting their chemical weapons storage facilities under international control, subsequent destruction of these weapons, and on the full-fledged joining to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),” he said.

We have passed our offer to Al-Muallem [Syrian Foreign Minister] and hope to receive [a] fast and positive answer

If establishment of control over chemical weapons in Syria can help avoid a strike, Russia will immediately join it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at press-conference.

Moscow will try to broker a deal in which Syria submits its chemical arsenal to international control and the West drops plans to attack Syria, Lavrov added.

Announcing this in Moscow on Monday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said Moscow is already stoking up diplomacy to this end.

 M.D