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Russia Provides Convoys for Syrian Chemical Removal Russia Sends Vehicles to Syrian Port to Aid in Removal of Chemical Weapons Stockpile
(about 7 hours later)
MOSCOW — The Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Monday that 50 trucks and 25 armored vehicles had been delivered to the Syrian port of Latakia in recent days to help with the removal of the country’s chemical weapons stockpile. MOSCOW — The Russian defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, said Monday that 50 trucks and 25 armored vehicles had been delivered to the Syrian port of Latakia in recent days to help with the removal of the country’s chemical weapons stockpile, the latest sign of progress in that effort despite the grinding civil war.
Mr. Shoigu reported the equipment delivery — which also included tents, water tankers and field kitchens — to President Vladimir V. Putin by a video link from the nuclear submarine Aleksandr Nevskiy, which was docked in the northern port of Severodvinsk on the White Sea. Mr. Shoigu reported the equipment delivery as new signs emerged of fractures in the diplomatic effort to start peace talks next month. The Syrian opposition threatened to boycott the talks if the government did not halt a relentless aerial assault on Aleppo, the contested northern city. Opposition activists say hundreds of civilians have died in nine consecutive days of air attacks.
“In accordance with your instructions,” Mr. Shoigu told Mr. Putin, the vehicles had been delivered “to implement as soon as possible the transmission of equipment and supplies for the export of Syrian chemical weapons.” The Russian vehicle delivery, reported on the Kremlin’s website, was conveyed by Mr. Shoigu to President Vladimir V. Putin by a video link, in which the defense minister informed him it had been completed “to implement as soon as possible the transmission of equipment and supplies for the export of Syrian chemical weapons.”
Addressing Mr. Putin as “comrade commander-in-chief,” according to a transcript posted on the Kremlin’s website, Mr. Shoigu said that the “equipment will perform the task of transporting the Syrian arsenal of chemical weapons to the port of Latakia for its removal from the country, and subsequent disposal.” The removal of the chemical arms, which Syria committed to dismantle under an international agreement reached in September following American threats of a military strike, poses an enormous security challenge.
The removal of the chemical arms, which Syria committed to dismantle under an international agreement reached in September following American threats of a military strike, poses a military challenge.
The main road from Damascus, where many of the chemical weapons facilities and materials were located, has been periodically closed in recent weeks by heavy fighting in the country’s civil war.The main road from Damascus, where many of the chemical weapons facilities and materials were located, has been periodically closed in recent weeks by heavy fighting in the country’s civil war.
In order to make the removal of the weapons possible, the government must secure the area. That task has led opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in recent weeks to note bitterly that the American goal of fulfilling the chemical-weapons agreement requires military victories by the Syrian government, which the United States nominally opposes. In order to make the removal of the weapons possible, the government must secure the area. That task has led opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in recent weeks to note bitterly that the American goal of fulfilling the chemical weapons agreement requires military victories by the Syrian government, which the United States nominally opposes.
It is the latest way in which Syrians opposed to the government feel abandoned by global powers, which they accuse of caring more about ridding the world of Syria’s chemical weapons than about the widespread killings of civilians by conventional weapons in the country’s civil war. Antigovernment groups contend that more than 120,000 people have died since the conflict began in March 2011. It is the latest way in which Syrians opposed to the government feel abandoned by global powers, which they accuse of caring more about ridding the world of Syria’s chemical weapons than about the widespread killings of civilians by conventional weapons in the country’s civil war. Antigovernment groups contend that more than 120,000 people have died since the conflict began in March 2011, and that Mr. Assad’s government has intensified the violence in advance of the peace talks, scheduled to take place in Geneva on Jan. 22.
Under Syria’s commitment to rid the country of the chemical weapons, the most hazardous materials are supposed to be exported by the end of this year, although international officials in charge of supervising the effort have said there could be delays. The Syrian opposition coalition said in a statement on Monday that it would not attend the talks if the government continues the aerial bombing of Aleppo, where antigovernment activists contend that the Syrian military has fired Scud missiles and used helicopter gunships to drop barrels laden with explosives on civilian neighborhoods. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain with contacts inside Syria, contends that more than 300 people have been killed, including more than 80 children, from the so-called barrel bombs and other indiscriminate weapons.
The United States had previously committed to rendering the chemicals harmless at sea via a specially equipped naval vessel. The United States, which supports the Syrian opposition, condemned the repeated bombing assaults on Aleppo in a statement on the White House’s website. “The Syrian government must respect its obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population,” the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said in the statement.
The entire arsenal must be destroyed by the middle of 2014.

David M. Herszenhorn reported from Moscow, and Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon. Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York.

David M. Herszenhorn reported from Moscow, and Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon.