Removing chemical weapons from Syria to take longer than expected

It is going to take longer than expected to remove all of Syria’s chemical weapons, a Russian official said on Friday. The Director of the Department for Security Affairs and Disarmament at the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the mission would not be finished by 31st December, as had been planned.

According to Russian news agency ITAR TASS, Mikhail Ulianov said that the bad situation in Syria means that it is important to remove the weapons in the safest way possible. “We can’t just make a bad situation worse,” he insisted.

In a meeting behind closed doors held on Friday in Moscow, representatives of Russia, the US, China and the UN discussed the safe transportation of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons. They decided that Danish and Norwegian naval vessels should guard the two ships taking the chemical weapons from Latakia Seaport to a special American ship lying off Italy’s Mediterranean coast.

Source: AlQuds