Syria: Putin Not Certain Assad Will Stick To Deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he cannot be 100% certain that Syria will carry out its commitments to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles.

"Will we be able to accomplish it all? I cannot be 100% sure about it," he told a news conference.

"But everything we have seen so far in recent days gives us confidence that this will happen ... I hope so."

Mr Putin, who has been Syrian President Bashar al Assad's staunchest ally, during the two-and-a-half year civil war, said he had strong grounds to believe that a chemical attack outside Damascus on August 21, which is believed to have killed 1,400 people, was staged by opponents of the Syrian government.

"We always talk about the responsibility of the Assad government, if he was the one who used it (a chemical weapon). What if the opposition used it?" he said.

"We have every reason to believe it was a cunning provocation."

He reiterated Moscow's opinion that the methods employed to make the chemical weapons used in the attack suggested it was home-made and not a type of armament used by the Syrian army.

His comments came after Mr Assad told Fox News he would destroy his chemical weapons stockpiles, but said it would take time and money - and challenged the US to foot the bill.

"It needs a lot of money, it needs about $1bn (£600m)," he said form the presidential palace in Damascus.

"If the American administration is ready to pay those money, and to take responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don't they do it?"

He said destroying the weapons was "a very complicated operation, technically".

"So it depends, you have to ask the experts what they mean by quickly. It has a certain schedule," he said. "It needs a year, or maybe a little bit more."

A UN report by chemical weapons inspectors on Monday confirmed that chemicals were used in last month's attack in rebel-held areas, citing "clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent Sarin were used".

Mr Assad rejected the report as "unrealistic" and denied responsibility for the attack.

Last week the US and Russia hammered out a deal for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons, which America, France and the UK now want enshirined in a United Nations resolution.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged the UN Security Council to pass a binding resolution to remove Syria's chemical weapons.

As the diplomatic wrangling over the issue continued, a roadside bomb in central Syria killed at least 14 members of Mr Assad's minority Alawite sect.

The blast targeted two buses near the village of Jabourin, north of the city of Homs, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Alawites are an offshoot sect of Shia Islam who mostly support Mr Assad and have been increasingly targeted by hardline fighters among the Sunni Muslim-dominated opposition.