President Obama agrees to UN discussion of Russia proposal on Syria chemical weapons

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Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told NBC News' Keir Simmons in Moscow that he hoped acceptance of Russia's "peaceful solution" would "put an end to the war."
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Story by NBC News
Written by Alastair Jamieson, Albina Kovalyova and Keir Simmons

President Barack Obama has agreed to discuss Russia's proposal that Syria hand over chemical weapons, the White House said Tuesday after Damascus confirmed it would accept such a deal.

Talks begin at the United Nations later Tuesday, a White House official told NBC News, even as Obama prepares to address Congress -- and the American people -- over the need for military strikes.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the U.S., France and Britain would table a UN Security Council resolution shortly.

Earlier, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told NBC News in Moscow that he hoped acceptance of the "peaceful solution" would "put an end to the war."
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The building momentum behind Russia's plan came only 24 hours after Secretary of State John Kerry first suggested a weapons handover as news conference in London.

France announced early Tuesday it would seek a U.N. Security Council resolution along similar lines to Russia's plan, which has has already been endorsed by Iran and China.

France announced early Tuesday it would seek a U.N. Security Council resolution along similar lines to Russia's plan, which has has already been endorsed by Iran and China.

Obama said Monday that the Russia plan offered a potential path that averted U.S. military strikes, but Kerry cautioned that the only reason the Russia solution has "potential legs at all" is because of a credible threat of force.

"Nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of a hanging," Kerry told a Congressional committee Tuesday. He said Obama would look at the plan but added: "We’re waiting for that proposal but we’re not waiting for long.”

Kerry said it had been the “credible use of force” by the U.S. that has, “for the first time brought this regime to even acknowledge that they have a chemical weapons arsenal,” adding that the threat of military action “is more compelling if the Congress stands with the commander in chief.”

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel echoed that line, saying the Russia deal "could be a real solution to this crisis," but added: "We must be clear-eyed and ensure it is not a stalling tactic by Syria and its Russian patrons."

Senior senators - including John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. - announced they were working on a new plan that would authorize the president to use force only if Syria did not comply with a U.N. resolution to remove chemical weapons by a pre-determined deadline.

But even as they discussed their move, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced his opposition to military strikes against Syria.

In a further development, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin said the Russian president had discussed the weapons handover plan with Obama at last week’s G-20 summit.

That shed a different light on Secretary of State John Kerry’s mention of the plan at a news conference in London on Monday. That had previously been characterized by spokesman Jen Psaki as an off-the-cuff “rhetorical argument.”

The president will travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with the Senate Democratic Caucus and Senate Republican Conference before delivering an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House at 9:01 p.m. ET.

His case for limited airstrikes targeting Assad's regime was boosted early Tuesday when a Human Rights Watch report blamed Syrian government forces for the Aug. 21 poison gas attack that killed hundreds of people.

The U.S.-based rights group said it had reached its conclusion after analyzing witness accounts, remnants of the weapons used and medical records of victims.