John Kerry Begins Talks with Russian Officials to Broker Syrian Chemical Weapons Treaty

Secretary of State John Kerry and American arms control experts began talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov and Russian arms experts in Geneva on Thursday to discuss the plan to secure and eliminate Syria's chemical weapon arsenal. 

According to the New York Times, Kerry and Lavrov told reporters that they plan to broker a diplomatic solution to rid Syria of the chemical weapons that killed over 1,000 Syrians in a strike by the Assad regime last month.

The U.S. blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the attack, which prompted President Obama to propose a military strike. The U.S. has now delayed the strike following a plan proposed by Russia, Syria's biggest supporter, to dispose of Syria's chemical weapons. Russia has repeatedly defended the Syrian president, and said that the rebels were responsible for the attack. Russia has warned that an American strike would increase Middle Eastern instability. 

The meeting between the U.S. and Russia came hours after Assad publicly endorsed the Russian plan for chemical weapons disposal. Assad announced that Syria formally applied for membership in the chemical weapons treaty, giving the Syrian leader 30 days to declare his stockpiles of chemical weapons for annihilation under international supervision. 

"Expectations are high," Kerry said at the meeting. "They're high for the United States, perhaps even more so for Russia, to deliver on the promise of this moment." 

Yet, Kerry said the standard procedures for this process are too slow. "There is nothing standard about this process," Mr. Kerry said. "The words of the Syrian regime in our judgment are simply not enough."

While the Russian foreign minister said that a successful treaty would obviate the need for a military strike, Kerry disagreed. Kerry said that "only the credible threat of force" had prompted Assad to admit that he has chemical weapons, and that a punitive strike is needed to make sure Assad keeps his word. 

Assad announced on Russian television from a Damascus broadcast that the U.S. did not influence his decision to acknowledge that his country possesses chemical weapons. "Threats made by the U.S. did not influence our decision to permit monitoring of our chemical weapons by the international community," Assad said. 

American officials are planning a series of tests to ensure that the Russian government and the Assad regime is serious about allowing Syria's chemical weapons to be eradicated under international supervision. 

One test will see if Russia and Syria are willing to accept a "a rapid beginning to international control" that denies the Assad government access to chemical weapons, the New York Times reports. 

Another test is if the Syrian government is willing to show their stockpiles of weapons and chemical weapon production facilities. 

"There are some specific things that we can ask for, and see if they get delivered very quickly, that will give us an early sense of whether there is reality here or not," said a State Department official, who had to remain anonymous due to department rules.

American officials have declassified reports about the size of Syria's chemical stockpile, the main elements in the weapons and their locations. 

"What we will be looking at is the chemical weapons stockpiles, the production facilities, precursor chemicals," the State Department official said. "And to the extent that there are munitions that are used to spread those chemical weapons in whatever manner, that obviously is part of dismantling and destroying the chemical weapons that Assad has."

After signing the treaty, Syria will be required to reveal the chemical arsenal to the international organization overseeing the treaty. Inspectors will then be sent to Syria to verify the chemical stocks, which is potentially a very dangerous endeavor due to the rampant, unceasing violence that has racked Syria for the past two years. 

It remains unclear as to whether the Russians will only agree to the treaty if the U.S. promises not to launch punitive strikes. 

The task of destroying the stock piles could take a year or more. A Pentagon official told the Times that Assad has 1,400 tons of sarin, VX and mustard agents, and that it would take at least 200 to 300 days to seize the stockpiles to destroy the weapons.