Moscow wonders why U.S. is so adamant about Syrian chemical arms exportation schedule - Ryabkov
MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - Moscow is perplexed by Washington's demand to have a strict schedule for the exportation of Syrian chemical weapons made in the elaboration of the related agreement, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"I would not deny the fact that it was not completely clear to us why our American colleagues insisted on the super-strict schedule of the exportation of chemicals from Syria," Ryabkov said in an interview published by the January issue of Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn.
"They insisted that the documents set the deadlines, which would be difficult to comply with because of the complexity of the operations," the deputy minister said.
"Yet we hope that the found solutions and the upcoming steps towards the coordination and strengthening of interaction will allow us pass through this extremely important stage without failures and escalations of political tensions," Ryabkov said.
The UN Security Council passed resolution 2118 in September 2013 to promote the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) endorsed a detailed action plan on November 15. The plan said that most chemicals would be exported from Syria before February 5, 2014, and required that the exportation of the most dangerous substances occur before the end of 2013. Yet the schedules were later upset by military operations in Syria.
