Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his government’s plan to have Syria turn over chemical weapons will only work if President Obama calls off his plans for military strikes — something the White House has rejected.
Instead, the Obama administration was still pushing Congress on Tuesday to pass a resolution authorizing the strikes, saying that the threat of military action is the only reason Russia and Syria were willing to deal in the first place.
In a statement to Russia Today, a Kremlin-financed television station, Mr. Putin said Syria can’t be expected to disarm under threats of violence.
“Certainly, this is all reasonable, it will function and will work out, only if the U.S. and those who support it on this issue pledge to renounce the use of force, because it is difficult to make any country — Syria or any other country in the world — to unilaterally disarm if there is military action against it under consideration,” Mr. Putin told RT.
In the U.S., Mr. Obama was meeting separately with Senate Democrats and then Senate Republicans to press his case and to discuss the latest turns in the international diplomacy.
Hours earlier, Secretary of State John F. Kerry made the case to the House for keeping the threat of force a reality.
“The president believes we need to keep this threat, this reality, absolutely on the table,” Mr. Kerry told the House Armed Services Committee. “He wants the Congress to act.”
Putin: Obama must back off for Syria plan to work – Washington Times.
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