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U.S. and Russia Far Apart as Kerry Arrives in Geneva for Syria Talks Kerry Arrives in Geneva for Talks With Russia on Syrian Arms
(about 1 hour later)
GENEVA — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here on Thursday with a team of arms control experts for intensive talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, to try to reach an agreement on how to secure and ultimately destroy Syria’s chemical weapons. GENEVA — Secretary of State John Kerry and a team of American arms control experts arrived here Thursday to begin talks with their Russian counterparts on a plan to secure and dispose of Syria’s chemical weapons.
Mr. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, was taking his own arms control experts to the negotiations, holding out the possibility that there would be depth and detail to the talks. But sharp divisions remained between the two after President Obama said he would hold off on an American military strike on Syria and gave a qualified endorsement to a Russian proposal for international monitors to take over the country’s chemical arsenal. American officials said they were planning a series of early tests to determine if the Russian government, and more importantly President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, were serious about accepting international control of Syria’s huge chemical arsenal.
The Obama administration is pressing for a “self-enforcing” resolution in the United Nations that would authorize military action if President Bashar al-Assad of Syria balked at turning over his nation’s huge chemical stockpiles. But the Russians want a nonbinding statement and say the United States has to withdraw the threat of force. Mr. Obama said in a speech to the nation on Tuesday that naval forces would remain in the region in case Mr. Assad backed away from a vaguely worded commitment to cooperate. One test is the willingness of Russia and Syria to accept “a rapid beginning to international control” that would preclude the Assad government from accessing and using chemical weapons, said a senior State Department official who was traveling on Mr. Kerry’s plane.
As Mr. Kerry left Washington on Wednesday night, lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill offered a collective sigh of relief as they returned to more prosaic work, having so far dodged a political confrontation with Mr. Obama that no one in Washington appeared eager to have. The Senate ended its consideration of a resolution authorizing military force against the Syrian government, moving on to an energy-efficiency bill and putting a potentially historic showdown over American military intervention on hold, at least for now. Another test is how much candor the Syrian government is prepared to show about its chemical weapons stocks and production facilities.
American officials said the Syria debate would now unfold largely in Geneva, where the United States wants the talks to focus not only on Syria’s chemical weapons but also on securing munitions like bombs or warheads that are designed for chemical attacks. The officials acknowledged that securing the delivery systems for attacks goes far beyond what Mr. Lavrov has offered or is likely to agree to in Geneva this week. “There are some specific things that we can ask for, and see if they get delivered very quickly, that will give us an early sense of whether there is reality here or not,” the State Department official said.
The Syrian government, the official said, could “declare all of their stockpile quickly.”
Mr. Kerry plans to meet late Thursday afternoon with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy who would play a major role if talks on a potential political settlement in Syria are resumed.
Mr. Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, and his delegation Thursday evening. The American-Russian talks will continue on Friday and probably on Saturday.
The meetings will take place at the same Geneva hotel where then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Mr. Lavrov with a red “reset” button in 2009 to symbolize the Obama administration’s efforts to improve ties with Moscow — an effort that so far has been largely stymied.
American officials have been hoping the two sides can cobble together an effective plan but are wary of being drawn into prolonged talks that would serve as a delaying tactic to preclude an American-led military strike.
The task of coming up with a verifiable plan to inspect, control and dispose of Syria’s chemical weapons during a civil war is daunting.
Though Obama administration officials have said that the problem of Syria’s chemical weapons has been discussed with the Russians for more than a year, the two sides have not yet talked about the problem in detail.
For example, the United States and Russia have yet to compare intelligence on the size of Syria’s chemical stocks, its main elements and where they are located. American officials have declassified intelligence reports and plan to begin that process here.
“What we will be looking at is the chemical weapons stockpiles, the production facilities, precursor chemicals and to the extent that there are munitions that are used to spread those chemical weapons in whatever manner,” the State Department official said.
How to protect any inspectors who would examine Syria’s weapons and which nations would supply the monitors are also important questions.
While American officials are still waiting for the Russians to present a detailed plan, some elements were described by Russian officials and in news reports in Moscow.
The proposal that Russia has presented for resolving the crisis over chemical weapons in Syria, presented to the United States and other nations on Wednesday, would unfold in stages that could take months to put into place.
Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan, Mr. Lavrov said the first step would be for Syria to sign the international Convention on Chemical Weapons, which bans the manufacture, storage and use of the weapons.
After that, according to a diplomatic official cited by the newspaper Kommersant, Syria would be required to declare the sites of its chemical arsenal to the organization that oversees the treaty. Inspectors would then be dispatched to verify those declarations, a potentially laborious effort complicated by the uncertain security situation in the country.
Mr. Lavrov, in remarks posted on the Foreign Ministry’s Web site, said that he and Mr. Kerry would be accompanied in their talks by disarmament experts from both countries “to determine which steps are concretely required in order to safeguard the corresponding storage places and arsenals.”
American officials said that Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov will not be negotiating the terms of a U.N. resolution in Geneva. That would be done at the United Nations. But the technical talks here will inform that process.
The French, with American and British support, have drafted a Security Council resolution that would authorize the use of force under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter if Syria balked at complying with a disarmament plan. In contrast, the Russians have proposed that the president of the Security Council issue a nonbinding statement.
Mr. Lavrov has suggested that the proposal would only succeed if the United States abandoned the threat of force, but it was not clear whether the Russians would insist on an explicit commitment from the Americans or others not to launch strikes in exchange for Syria’s cooperation with international inspectors.
President Barack Obama’s decision to delay any military action and explore a disarmament plan with the Russians, who have been one of the main arms suppliers to the Assad government, has distressed much of the Syrian opposition.
One American official who deals with the Syrian rebels said they were “upset” by the development.
“They don’t trust this at all,” he said. “So we’re asking them not to prejudge. I mean, what matters to Syrians inside Syria is for chemical weapons not to be used again.”
In a recent statement, General Salim Idris, the head of the military wing of the Syrian opposition, rejected the Russian initiative and said that the Syrians who carried out the Aug. 21 chemical attack near Damascus that started the current crisis must be punished.
Mr. Lavrov said that the meeting in Geneva would also provide an opportunity to discuss reviving the stalled effort he and Mr. Kerry announced in Moscow in May to organize an international conference between Syria’s government and rebel forces aimed at finding a political resolution to the civil war.
He said that Syria’s government had agreed to attend those talks but that the United States and other nations had failed to persuade “the irreconcilable Syrian opposition” to do so.
Adding to the complexity of the diplomatic task is the reality that even if a deal is reached, it would take a year or more to destroy Syria’s chemical stores. One estimate by Pentagon officials determined that Mr. Assad has 1,400 tons of sarin, VX and mustard agents, and that it would take at least 200 to 300 days to take control of the weapons and, short of destruction, to make them unusable.Adding to the complexity of the diplomatic task is the reality that even if a deal is reached, it would take a year or more to destroy Syria’s chemical stores. One estimate by Pentagon officials determined that Mr. Assad has 1,400 tons of sarin, VX and mustard agents, and that it would take at least 200 to 300 days to take control of the weapons and, short of destruction, to make them unusable.
“But we don’t have ideal conditions — far from it,” said one senior official who has studied the problem intensively, referring to the raging civil war in Syria. Until the chemical weapons are neutralized, they would have to be heavily guarded to keep both Mr. Assad’s forces and rebel groups from seizing them. But it is unclear who would be willing to take on that task in the midst of the fighting. Mr. Obama repeated on Tuesday that there would be no American “boots on the ground” in Syria.“But we don’t have ideal conditions — far from it,” said one senior official who has studied the problem intensively, referring to the raging civil war in Syria. Until the chemical weapons are neutralized, they would have to be heavily guarded to keep both Mr. Assad’s forces and rebel groups from seizing them. But it is unclear who would be willing to take on that task in the midst of the fighting. Mr. Obama repeated on Tuesday that there would be no American “boots on the ground” in Syria.
On Wednesday, White House officials refused to set a timeline for any agreement in Geneva or for a subsequent action by the United Nations on a resolution to enforce the deal. The Russians in the meantime have sent the Americans a written proposal on how to handle Mr. Assad’s chemical weapons, but administration officials said it lacked detail on how the stockpiles would be secured, verified and destroyed. The meetings will take place at the same Geneva hotel wherethen Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Mr. Lavrov with a red"reset” button in 2009 to symbolize the Obama administration’sefforts to improve ties with Moscow--an effort that so far has been largelystymied.
“This is a process that will take a certain amount of time,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “But it needs to be credible. It needs to be verifiable. And we will work with our allies and partners to test whether or not that can be achieved.”

Michael R. Gordon reported from Geneva, and Steven Lee Myers reported from Moscow.

Even as Congress turned to other business, several prominent lawmakers said Wednesday that the threat of force should be maintained alongside the diplomatic efforts. A bipartisan group of senators continued talks on revisiting a resolution to authorize force in Syria if international monitors could not secure the chemical weapons within a matter of days, not weeks.
“If they’re committed to removing Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons stocks, we know how to do that,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said in an interview. He said he “would love” to see a resolution of force “back on the floor, sooner rather than later.”
Some Democrats echoed Mr. McCain. “If there is any indication that negotiations are not serious or will not effectively prevent further atrocities, the Senate will act quickly to give the president the authority to hold the Assad regime accountable,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader.
Other lawmakers continued to express skepticism about any attack, saying the president failed in his speech on Tuesday to provide enough information about the diplomatic efforts. Mr. Obama did not say how long he would wait for diplomacy to work, what evidence of compliance he would demand from Syria, or how essential he deemed action by the United Nations.
“A diplomatic resolution is always preferred over military action, but what would that resolution entail, and who will broker it?” Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said in a statement after the speech.
Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky and the leader of the opposition to the use of force in Syria, predicted that the Senate may soon be confronted with the issue again if diplomacy fails. “I’m hoping we find a diplomatic solution,” Mr. Paul said. “Ultimately, people realize a diplomatic solution where chemical weapons went under international control is better than any military effort could have ever gotten.”
Another option involves support for rebel fighters. Mr. Obama recently indicated that a covert effort by the United States to arm and train Syrian rebels was beginning to yield results: the first 50-man cell of fighters, who have been trained by the C.I.A., was beginning to sneak into Syria.
In London, the spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said discussions were under way at the United Nations among the United States, France and Britain over a resolution to secure Syria’s chemical weapons, and that the text would later be circulated among Russia and China, the other two permanent members of the Security Council.
In Germany, there was skepticism about the latest diplomatic proposals. “It is important that Syria cannot play for time,” said Steffen Seibert, a government spokesman. “The Syrian government must not just make statements, it must act.”
Michael D. Shear reported from Washington. Reporting was contributed by Jonathan Weisman and David E. Sanger from Washington, Victor Homola from Berlin, and Steven Erlanger from London.

Reporting was contributed by Jonathan Weisman and David E. Sanger from Washington, Victor Homola from Berlin, and Steven Erlanger from London.