US-Russia reach agreement on Syria weapons

GENEVA: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov say they have reached an agreement on a framework for securing Syria's chemical weapons after the third day of intense negotiations in Geneva.

They say some elements of the deal include a timetable and how Syria must comply _ and that if Syria fails, they will seek a Security Council resolution that could authorize military action.

At a news conference Saturday, Kerry said the pair and their teams of experts had reached ``a shared assessment'' of the existing stockpile and that Syria must destroy all of its weapons.

Kerry said ``we have committed to a standard that says, verify and verify.''

The negotiations between the United States and Russia on securing Syria's chemical weapons also are considered key to a resumption of peace talks to end the 2-year Syrian civil war.