Syria is prepared to unveil its chemical weapons arsenal and halt its production, foreign minister Walid al-Muallem said Tuesday, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
“We are ready to state where the chemical weapons are, to halt production of chemical weapons and show these installations to representatives of Russia, other countries and the UN,” Mr Muallem said in a statement.
The foreign minister also said Damascus was now ready to join the international chemical weapons ban treaty.
In Washington, US secretary of state John Kerry said Russia will send the United States details of a proposal to secure Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile later on Tuesday. Mr Kerry said after talking to Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov that the details will come during the “course of the day”, but insisted any plan must contain “consequences” if it turns out to be a delaying tactic to avoid US military action.
Moscow’s UN mission had called an urgent Security Council meeting at 8 pm GMT, with France and Britain saying they planned to introduce their own motions, but this meeting was later postponed.