RUSSIAN PROPOSAL ON SYRIA

• Syria has agreed with the Russian proposal to place its chemical weapons stocks under international control to “uproot US aggression”, hours after President Barack Obama said he would “absolutely” put on hold any military strike on the country if it does so.
• The proposal put forward by Russia is a dramatic shift after America was gearing up for weeks to launch attacks against the embattled regime.
• Russia said it was in talks with the Bashar regime to formulate a “workable, precise and concrete” plan for the smooth transfer of the chemical weapons.
• The Assad regime has also said that it would join the Chemical Weapons Convention.

4 STEP PLAN:

• Syria will become a member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
• Declare the location of the chemical weapons arsenals and where these are made
• Allow OPCW inspectors into the country to examine the weapons
• Decide, in cooperation with the inspectors, how to destroy the weapons

 UN INVESTIGATION:

• UN chemical investigators confirmed "unequivocally and objectively" that poisonous sarin gas was used in the ongoing conflict in Syria on a "relatively large scale".
• Syrian Opposition and the West have accused President Bashar Al-Assad's forces of using chemical weapons on August 21 in a Damascus suburb that reportedly killed hundreds, a charge denied by the government.
• India has welcomed the framework agreement reached between Russia and the US on the time-bound safeguarding and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles.