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Russia could change position on Syria if Assad cheats Though adamantly against foreign intervention in Syria, Russia may change its position if Assad does not cooperate with the UN Security Council by handing over his chemical weapons arsenal
Russia could abandon support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if it learned that he was not committed to handing over control of his chemical weapons arsenal, Sergei Ivanov, the chief of staff for President Vladimir Putin, suggested on Saturday. But Ivanov also reiterated Russia's long-standing opposition to western military intervention in Syria, saying that such action would only aid militants linked to Al-Qaeda. "In the event of external military interference the opposition... would entirely lose interest in negotiations, considering that the US would bomb the regime to its foundations as in Libya, giving them an easy path to victory," Ivanov said in comments reported by Russian media to a Stockholm conference organized by the British-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. He said that Russia expected to know the whereabouts of all of Assad's chemical weapons within a week, although it will take two to three months to determine how long it will take to eliminate them. "I'm talking theoretically and hypothetically, but if we became sure that Assad is cheating, we could change our position," Ivanov said. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/82146.aspx
