US Kerry's "premature" comments on Syria weapons elicits statement from Moscow

Published October 19th, 2013 - 10:17 GMT
US Secretary of State John Kerry stated Thursday that Syrian chemical weapons should be shipped out of the country ahead of OPCW's finalization of the disarmament timeline (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
US Secretary of State John Kerry stated Thursday that Syrian chemical weapons should be shipped out of the country ahead of OPCW's finalization of the disarmament timeline (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Russia described US Secretary of State John Kerry's call to remove Syria's chemical weapons by ship "premature" Saturday, according to AFP.


In an interview on National Public Radio Thursday, Kerry stated that he hoped to move Syria's chemical weapons "as rapidly as possible to one location, and hopefully on a ship, and removed from the region."


However, the technical details of the weapon removal are still under discussion. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, who is operating according to the Russian-U.S. deal that states Syria must destroy all of its chemical weapons by mid-2014, is still finalizing a timetable for the destruction of the chemicals due November 15th.


In an official remark issued Saturday, the Moscow's Foreign Ministry thus responded to Kerry's comments stating that "considering that this work is not yet finished, in our view it is so far premature to talk about any specifics."

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