The Russia-NATO Council (RNC) has expressed readiness to consider more assistance to the joint mission of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in elimination of chemical weapons in Syria.
The council issued a statement following a ministerial meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, saying, “We welcome all support provided by the NRC member states to the OPCW-UN joint mission and stand ready to consider further assistance to the OPCW-UN joint mission if requested.”
Some 60 OPCW and UN experts and support staff are in Syria to implement a UN resolution on the elimination of the chemical arsenal. The United Nations Security Council approved the resolution on September 27.
Following the meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “We held talks and discussed an agreement on the chemical weapons of Syria.”
“The statement signed today on Syria’s chemical weapons is a support to the UN resolution in this regard, and we welcome it,” Lavrov added.
The RNC also discussed preparations for the upcoming Geneva conference on Syria.
Russia and the United States have been pushing to bring the Syrian government and the foreign-backed opposition to the negotiating table. The Geneva talks had been delayed for months, but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon finally set January 22, 2014, for the conference.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that the only solution to the crisis in Syria is through an inter-Syrian dialogue.
Rasmussen has also hailed measures taken so far regarding the elimination of the chemical weapons, calling on all parties to cooperate completely until all materials and equipment are destroyed in a safe way.
Reports say Russian and US officials will meet on December 20 at the presence of UN-Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi over the Geneva conference.
