Syria’s Bashar al-Assad said he’ll turn over his chemical weapon﷽s because of his good friend Vladimir Putin — not out of fear of US Tomahawk cruise mi🙈ssiles.
“Syria is placing its chemical weapons under international control because of Russ🎶ia,” the Syr🍬ian dictator told Russian TV in an interview that aired Thursday. “The US threats did not influence the decision.”
Assad made his claim as he also tried to impose conditions on the Russian pl෴an that would take poison gas stockpiles away from him.
“Fi♋rst of all,♐ the US needs to stop its policy of threats against Syria,” Assad said, adding that Washington then has to stop arming the anti-Assad rebels.
“When we see that the US really wants stability in our region and stops threatening and moving towards strikes, a🦂nd also stops supplying weapons to terrorists, then we will see that we complete the necessary processes and they’ll be acceptable to Syria.”
Assad is in no position to set terms, the🅘 White House replied.
“Conditions and demands by someone who a few weeks ago used chemical weapons on child🐲ren so we could all watch t💝hem die in videos are a little hard to take,” presidential spokesman Jay Carney said.
Assad also said🍨 he doesn’t expect to actually do anyth🅷ing for a month.
But the United States is working with France on a UN Security Council resolution that would set a 15-day deadline for Assad to re🍌linquish the kind of weapons he used to kill more than 1,400 people in a Damascus suburb on Aug. 21.
Western diplomats said a report by UN chemical-weapons investigators probing the massacre will be turned over to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday and lay ouౠt evidencꦉe against the regime.
Secr🐠etary of State John Kerry began two days of negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva to hammer out details of the disarmament plan.
“Expectations are high. They are high for the United States, perhaps ♔even more so for Russia, to deliver on the promise of this moment,” Kerry said.