Tag Archives: Sergey Lavrov

Syria: Nothing to see here, move along

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Obama says is shifting to domestic priorities from Syria focus

 

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Thursday he is shifting his focus to domestic priorities from a tense period during which he sought congressional approval to use military force against Syria for its suspected use of chemical weapons.

“Even as we have been spending a lot of time on the Syria issue and making sure that international attention is focused on the horrible tragedy that occurred there, it is still important to recognize that we’ve got a lot more stuff to do here in this government,” the president said before a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House.

The president said he hopes meetings between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will result in action to eliminate Syria’s ability to use chemical weapons again.

Obama has asked Congress to authorize military strikes against Syria in response to what the United States says was a chemical weapons attack by the government that killed more than 1,400 people on August 21. The issue is on hold pending diplomatic efforts to disarm Syria of chemical weapons.

“I am hopeful that the discussions that Secretary Kerry had with Foreign Minister Lavrov as well as some of the other players in this can yield a concrete result,” Obama said.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were to hold talks on Syria in Geneva.

The president cited the budget, immigration, and implementation of his signature healthcare legislation as concerns he is turning to.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-usa-obama-syria-idUSBRE98B0RF20130912

 

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Russian Ultimatium

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Putin: Syria chem arms handover will work only if US calls off strike

Published time: September 10, 2013 17:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Syria’s chemical arms handover will only work if the US and its allies renounce the use of force against Damascus.

“Certainly, this is all reasonable, it will function and will work out, only if the US and those who support it on this issue pledge to renounce the use of force, because it is difficult to make any country – Syria or any other country in the world – to unilaterally disarm if there is military action against it under consideration,” President Putin said on Tuesday.

Putin said the disarmament of Syria’s chemical weapons had been extensively discussed by experts and politicians.

The Russian president said that he and President Barack Obama had “indeed discussed” such a possibility on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg last week.

It was agreed, Putin said, “to instruct Secretary of State [John Kerry] and Foreign Minister [Sergey Lavrov] to get in touch” and “try to move this idea forward.”

President Putin’s comments came shortly after the Syrian government said it would agree to place its chemical weapons arsenal under international control.

Despite voicing “some serious skepticism,” Western countries supported the move, stressing the importance of Assad fulfilling the agreement and surrendering the weapons stockpiles.

Britain said it would like Russia and Syria to show that the proposal to President Bashar Assad is “serious and genuine.”

In Washington, the White House echoed the UK statement, saying it wanted to verify that Syria was serious in its intentions.

Breaking: US to ignore Russian Proposal

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JPOST BREAKING: US official to ‘Post’: Russia proposal to put Syria chemical arms under global control will go ignored

RAGreeneCNN‏@RAGreeneCNN3m
US official calls Kerry remark on #Syria chemical weapons “a major goof,” says he “went off script,” CNN’s @jimsciuttoCNN reports

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