Syria: John Kerry says Russia talks 'constructive One of the sticking points of the talks is that while the US insists the threat of military intervention must remain in place to compel the Syrian government to fully disclose and destroy its chemical weapons. However Mr Lavrov said that an agreement in Geneva must "remove the need" for a strike. US officials remain fearful that Bashar al-Assad's government would renege on a deal if it does not face consequences. "Syria needs to take immediate actions to disclose, surrender and eliminate its chemical weapons stockpile under international monitoring and verification," said Erin Pelton, a spokesman for the US mission in Geneva. Statements without action are wholly insufficient for a country that has had a secret, enormous chemical weapons program for decades. Mr Lavrov said he it was important that an accord was reached quickly on chemical weapons if the diplomats were to meet the New York deadline on a peace conference. We agreed to meet in New York on the margins of the General Assembly and see where we are and see what the Syrian parties think about it and do about it, and we hope we would be able to be a bit more specific when we meet with you in New York. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, also hinted that the Geneva talks were making progress as he welcomed a decision from Damascus to join the Chemical Weapons convention. This is "an important step towards the resolution of the Syrian crisis" and added: "This confirms the serious intention of our Syrian partners to follow this path."