Russia mediated the resolution of a critical situation in U.S.-Syrian relations that arose from chemical weapons storage. The Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper recently published an insightful comment by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov regarding the Syrian issue.

As such, Minister Sergei Lavrov is purported to have said that at the Americans’ request, Russia assisted in the establishment of direct contacts between the U.S. and certain structures within Syria. According to the Minister, the Americans also had a picture drawn from the words of Syrian representatives in addition to the information that the U.S. received from other channels. The Minister added that a trustful dialogue took place through bilateral channels between Russia and Syria. Specifically, Russia asked questions and received satisfactory answers that gave the assurance that the chemical weapons were being reliably protected, and stored in a safe place, as well as that every measure was being taken to maintain these arrangements.

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama discussed the storage problem relative to Syrian chemical weapons last year at the G20 summit in Mexico.