Russia Hails 'Successful' Shipping of Chemicals out of Syria
Russia on Monday hailed the "successful" completion of an international mission to ship chemical agents out of Syria, under a U.S.-Russia brokered agreement that helped avert the threat of Western air strikes.
"Russia greets the successful end of a large-scale and unprecedented international operation to ship all components of chemical weapons and their precursors out of Syria with deep satisfaction," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. leader Barack Obama discussed the end of the U.N.-backed mission to rid Syria of all declared chemical weapons in a phone call on Monday evening, the Kremlin said separately.
The foreign ministry said for its part that some 1,200 tonnes of chemicals had been taken out of Syria, praising Damascus for exhibiting "political will" and cooperating with the global community.
It said Syria "has been able to carry out a unique operation", unprecedented in the 17-year history of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the convention on chemical weapons.
"In the spirit of strategic partnership Russian and Chinese naval forces in cooperation with Danish and Norwegian military vessels had over the past six months ensured the safety of a sea phase of the operation to take toxic chemical weapons out of the Syrian port of Latakia," the statement said.
Under the final stage of the mission, the weapons should now be destroyed on board a U.S. ship as well as in Britain, it added.
Last year, Syrian President Bashar Assad's key ally Russia came forward with a surprise proposal for Damascus to hand over its chemical weapons under international control and have them destroyed.
The proposal has helped avert threatened U.S. military action but was slammed by critics as a political manoeuvre that would waste time and cause more deaths.
The world's chemical watchdog confirmed earlier Monday that the last of Syria's declared chemical agents had been shipped from the war-torn country.
Source: Agence France Presse
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