"A threat of force is far from a panacea for solving international issues," Putin

Vladimir Putin expresses doubts over Syria's disposal of chemical weapons

Russia president repeated suspicions that August's chemical attack was carried out by rebels and not pro-Assad forces

Shaun Walker

Vladimir Putin has said he could not be sure that Bashar al-Assad would fulfil the US-Russian plan to identify and destroy his chemical weapons stocks, but that "all the signs" suggest the Syrian regime is serious.

"Will we be able to accomplish it all? I cannot be 100% sure about it," he said at a discussion forum with western politicians and Russia experts in the north-west of the country. "But everything we have seen so far in recent days gives us confidence that this will happen … I hope so."

The Russian president also reiterated suspicions that the 21 August chemical attack near Damascus was carried out by rebels and not by forces loyal to Assad.

"We talk all the time about the responsibility of Assad regime if it turns out that they did it, but nobody is asking about the responsibility of the rebels if they did it," said Putin. "We have all the reasons to believe it was a clever provocation."

While France, Britain and the US have all said they have few doubts that Assad's forces perpetrated the crime, Russia has long claimed rebels were involved, and Putin claimed that investigations show the weapons used were too crude and outdated to belong to the regular Syrian army.

Moscow claims the Syrian authorities have handed over a dossier that points to rebel involvement in the 21 August attack to Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who was in Damascus on an official visit earlier this week.

Ryabkov met Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, and Assad, who thanked Russia for its support and said Syria would comply with the chemical weapons plan.

Putin denied that Assad's government had been forced to acquiesce to the plan only because of the real threat of force from Washington.

"A threat of force is far from a panacea for solving international issues," Putin said. "We are talking about threats to use force outside international law. Congress is discussing whether to launch a war, but that is not where the discussions should be taking place. They should be taking place at the UN security council."

The Russian president made a sustained and emotional criticism of previous western interventions in the Middle East and said it was naive to think that countries in the region could live by western rules.

He said he had made the point simply, when he spoke with Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St Petersburg this month: "I looked him in the eye and said, 'Why? Why do you need this?'"

Putin said Russia's apprehension was based on seeing what had happened in Egypt and Libya, as well as Iraq.

"At the time we tried to talk to the UK prime minister about our doubts on Iraq, but they didn't listen, and look at the result," said Putin. "Every day dozens of people die. Do you understand? Every day. What's the result?"

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/19/vladimir-putin-doubts-syria-plan-weapons