US officials' announcement of a possible new United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons has raised further hopes for US-Russia cooperation in ending Syria’s long civil war, but the road ahead is likely to be a slow one.
Secretary of State John Kerry did not definitively say that Washington and Moscow had reached an understanding on a resolution. Instead, he was cautious but clearly optimistic in stating that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “talked about the UN resolution and indeed I believe reached an agreement that should try to see that resolution voted shortly.” As of this writing, whether Lavrov also believes they reached an agreement is not immediately clear. Interestingly, official Russian media reports of the possible deal quote only US and Western sources in describing it.
