THE UNITED STATES said that an accord reached with Russia tonight on a draft UN Security Council resolution on destroying Syria’s chemical weapons was an “historic” breakthrough.
“This is a breakthrough arrived at through hard-fought diplomacy,” said a senior US official of the accord. “This is historic and unprecedented because it puts oversight of the Assad regime’s compliance under international control.”
The United States and Russia will submit a landmark resolution on destroying Syria’s chemical weapons to the UN Security Council, diplomats said.
The resolution could be the first to be passed by the 15 member council since the start of the Syria conflict in March 2011.
Diplomats said the resolution allows for the Council to decide on sanctions against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad at a later date if a breach of a Russia-US disarmament plan is reported.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed the accord without giving details of the text.
“We reached an understanding with the United States on a draft resolution,” Lavrov told reporters at the Security Council.
A full meeting of the 15-member council was called for 8:00pm (0000 GMT) in New York to discuss the draft resolution.
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