Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the global community should welcome Syria’s decision to join a ban on chemical weapons, saying it shows the "serious intentions" of Damascus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the global community should welcome Syria's decision to join a ban on chemical weapons, saying it shows the "serious intentions" of Damascus.
"I believe we should welcome such a decision of the Syrian leadership. I would like to express hope that it will be a very serious step on the path towards solving the Syrian crisis," Putin told a security summit in Kyrgyzstan.
"This confirms the serious intentions of our partners to go along this path," the Russian President said, referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the Kremlin has backed throughout the two-and-a-half-year conflict.
Speaking at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, Putin reiterated his firm resistance to the use of force against Syria.
"Recent diplomatic efforts have allowed to reduce an immediate threat of a military operation," Putin said.
The Russian president expressed beliefs that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is able to supplement the efforts for solving the Syrian crisis, calling on the members of the organization to coordinate efforts on the Arab state.
"Our organization is able to contribute significantly to settling the Syrian crisis," he stated, noting that cooperation, which aims at preventing the international disputes and working to settle them peacefully, is one of the organization's main objectives.
Russia has proposed that Damascus give up its chemical weapons in a bid to avoid threatened military strikes by the US.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the summit in Bishkek, also expressed that his country welcomed Russia's plan.
"We support the Russian initiative to hand over Syrian chemical weapons under international control."
President Assad said he would join the ban on chemical weapons but insisted that Washington renounce the "politics of threats" if it wanted the plan to work.
On Friday, the top Russian and US diplomats were set to meet for a second day of key talks to hammer out a plan to secure Syria's chemical weapons.
