Obama, Putin previously discussed plan to secure Syria chemical arms
US and Russian officials confirmed that discussions over securing Syria's chemical arms had been talking place for months before the alleged August chemical attack.
US and Russian officials confirmed Tuesday that they have had discussions about securing Syria’s chemical arms going back months, including in a meeting between Presidents Obama and Putin at the G-20 summit last week, and that the idea was not born out of a stray comment made by US Secretary of State John Kerry at a London press conference Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he and President Obama had “indeed discussed” the idea during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia last week.
He and Obama agreed “to instruct Secretary of State [John Kerry] and Foreign Minister [Sergey Lavrov] to get in touch” and “try to move this idea forward," Putin told Russia Today in an interview Tuesday.
A US official confirmed this basic account Tuesday.
