Moscow: Use of force in Syria OK, with caveat

A U.N. resolution may include military action against Syria but only as a possible response to chemical disarmament non-compliance, a senior Russian envoy said. "There can be no talk of any automatic application of sanctions or, especially, [a use of] force," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian lawmakers in the Parliament's lower house. The part of the U.N. mandate that permits military force to "restore international peace and security" "can be mentioned only as an element of a possible set of measures ... if any actions such as refusal to cooperate or non-compliance with obligations are identified," he said. Washington and Moscow agreed Sept. 14 on a plan to seize and destroy Syria's chemical weapons, which averted an imminent U.S. attack on Syrian military sites. But the countries are at odds over how to enforce the initiative at the U.N. Security Council. "Even though they agreed to a compromise on chemical weapons, U.S. representatives keep insisting that the Syrian regime, as they call it, is responsible," Ryabkov told the lawmakers Tuesday. "Without presenting any irrefutable evidence, they are saying all the time that the plans to 'punish' Damascus, even through military intervention, remain in force," he said. Russia has been critical and suspicious of U.S. intentions in Syria and contends a sarin attack Aug. 21 that killed hundreds near Damascus was more likely the work of rebels than the Assad regime. U.S. President Barack Obama told the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday, "The evidence is overwhelming that the Assad regime used such weapons on Aug. 21." Obama added it was "an insult to human reason -- and to the legitimacy of this institution -- to suggest that anyone other than the regime carried out this attack." He said the Security Council resolution being worked out must include "consequences" for Syria if it fails to disarm itself of chemical weapons. "If we cannot agree even on this, then it will show that the U.N. is incapable of enforcing the most basic of international laws," he said. "On the other hand, if we succeed, it will send a powerful message that the use of chemical weapons has no place in the 21st century, and that this body means what it says." "Regrettably," Ryabkov told the lawmakers, "I have to admit that our contacts with Americans are not very smooth and, generally speaking, are not moving in the direction in which they should be moving today." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met for about 90 minutes after Obama's address. U.S. officials described the session to The Washington Post as very productive and substantive, with Kerry and Lavrov refining a draft text. They would not say if the dispute over enforcing the chemical weapons deal was resolved or when they expected the resolution to be ready for a Security Council debate and vote. A U.N. team was to return to Syria Wednesday to look more deeply into the use of chemical weapons in the country's 2 1/2-year-old civil war, U.N. officials said. The weapons inspectors, led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, plan to finish an investigation of alleged chemical weapons incidents that was partly sidelined by the Aug. 21 sarin attack and the prospect of U.S. airstrikes. The inspectors plan to visit the village of Khan al-Assal near Aleppo, U.N. officials said. The village, which was captured by rebel fighters July 22 after a massacre, suffered an alleged chemical attack March 19 that killed at least 26 people.