Syria Says Has 'already Agreed' to Russia Arms Plan

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem on Tuesday said Syria has "already agreed" to an initiative by Russia for Damascus to hand over its chemical weapons stocks to international control.

"Yesterday, we had a round of very fruitful negotiations with (Russian Foreign Minister) Sergei Lavrov and he came forward with an initiative on chemical weapons," Muallem said in Moscow after meeting the speaker of the Russian lower house of parliament in comments quoted by Russian news agencies translated from Arabic.

"And already (yesterday) in the evening we agreed with the Russian initiative," saying this would "knock the chair from under the legs of the American aggression".