U.S. and Russia to Back U.N. Resolution to Identify Who Used Chemical Weapons in Syria

Michael R. Gordon, The New York Times

06 Aug 2016

Image: Secretary of State John Kerry, center, before a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday.CreditPool photo by Brendan Smialowski

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The United States and Russia will support a United Nations Security Council resolution to identify the perpetrators of attacks using chlorine and other chemical agents in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday.

The agreement to back the resolution was reached Wednesday night in a one-on-one meeting here between Mr. Kerry and Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.

The measure could be approved by the Security Council in the next few days.

Although the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has the authority to determine whether chemical weapons have been used in Syria, the measure is intended to hold a specific organization or individuals to account.

“What we are trying to do is get beyond the mere finding of the fact that it may have been used and actually find out who used it and designate accountability for its use,” Mr. Kerry told reporters here.

The possession of chlorine is not banned by the international convention covering chemical weapons. There are also concerns that Mr. Assad may not have given up all the chemical weapons he was required to hand over under a 2013 accord.

Russia, however, has been a strong supporter of Mr. Assad, and differences between Washington and Moscow have held up the adoption of the measure.

Mr. Kerry said the new resolution would establish a system for conducting investigations into whether chemical weapons were used, but he did not provide details.

“What we will achieve, we believe, with this resolution is the creation of a mechanism which will actually enable us to do that,” Mr. Kerry said.

After Mr. Assad’s forces were accused of using chemical weapons in the Damascus suburbs in August 2013, killing civilians and breaching President Obama’s self-declared “red line” against the use of poison gas, the White House initially considered a military response.

Mr. Obama shelved that threat after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia suggested that Mr. Assad might be persuaded to give up his stocks of poison gas.

In September 2013, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov worked out a sweeping planin Geneva to dismantle Syria’s chemical arsenal, and the agreement was later endorsed by the Security Council.

But Mr. Assad’s apparent stocks of chlorine, critics say, have allowed him to maintain a rudimentary ability to use chemical agents.

As Mr. Assad’s position has weakened militarily in recent months, there have been increasing fears that he might make greater use of chlorine-filled bombs or even of weapons using other chemicals.

Mr. Kerry said that he hoped a vote on the resolution would come soon. Referring to his meeting with Mr. Lavrov on Wednesday night, Mr. Kerry said that he and his Russian counterpart had “talked about the U.N. resolution and indeed, I believe, reached an agreement that should try to see that resolution voted on shortly.”

© 2015 The New York Times Company

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