Russia offers help to destruction of Syrian chemical weapons

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday his country was ready to contribute warships to protect the cargo vessels that will carry the Syrian chemical weapons to dumping sites. Speaking to the Russian TV, Lavrov said the international efforts focus now on how to collect all such weapons at one disposal site instead of multiple sites. Many European countries stated desire to contribute cargo ships to carry these weapons from Syria to a US naval vessel specially-modified to destroy these weapons, he said, noting that the Russian naval fleet can protect the cargo ships. He was apparently referring to the MV Cape Ray, part of the US maritime reserve fleet fit to convert toxic chemicals into relatively harmless liquids. In a related development, Lavrov questioned the success prospects of the Geneva II Conference on Syria in case it draws participants only from the Syrian opposition in exile. Unless the opposition inside Syria takes part in the planned conference, the outcome of the conference cannot reflect positively on the situation on the ground, he argued.