The Syrian president, speaking to Russia's Rossiya 24 state news channel, denied however that US pressure had anything to do with the decision to surrender the arsenal.
“Syria is transferring its chemical weapons to international control because of Russia,” he said in an interview the Rossia 24 television channel. “The threats of the United States had no influence on the decision to put the weapons under [international] control.”
In excerpts released by the channel on Thursday afternoon, he added that Syria is sending the United Nations documents for preparing the agreement on the weapons.
The full interview is expected to be broadcast later this evening. » | Roland Oliphant, Moscow, Damien McElroy in Geneva and Ruth Sherlock in Beirut | Thursday, September 12, 2013
