lavrov. i want to thank you and your delegates on behalf of all the people who hope diplomacy can avoid military action. we thank you for coming quickly to geneva in order to have this important conversation we will engain in. over one year ago president obama and president putin directed high-level experts in our governments, both of our governments, to work together to prepare contingencies involving syria's chemical weapons. foreign minister lavrov and i have been in regular contact about this issue since my visit to moscow earlier had year. as foreign minister lavrov said to me in a phone conversation after st. petersburg and the meetings there, president putin and president obama thought it would be worthwhile for us to work together to determine if there was life in this concept. this challenge obviously took on grave urgency on august 21st when the syrian regime used chemical weapons in a massive and indiscriminate way against its own citizens. president obama and dozens of our partner

let's listen to what sergei lavrov is saying. we have a translator now. >> translator: which has to get in legal form and to nevertheless it's hard not to over estimate it. we paid good attention to all the efforts, especially to john kerry for the constructive -- his attitude to have this work. in the course of which the rhetoric doesn't belong in this, and to concentrate on the professional coordination of the practice solution of this, how to handle the syrian arsenal, and further ways how to demolish it. the initial point was the decision of damascus to join the and to use the obligations until the formal joining of this convention. that's when damascus will start fulfilling its obligations. we agreed in the joint steps, which were taken by all the delegations pursuing the procedures in the kwings on the prohibition of chemical weapons which allow promptly and without any delays, without complications to do the tasks. we hope that the members of the executive council of this organization will share our russian/american approa

sergey lavrov who. stayed extra time from what he had originally planned hoping we'd get a sooner and. this gave us a additional opportunity to be able to work through some of the issues. i especially want to thank the. cooperated effort of circuit law who has worked hard and his entire delegation including teams of the world's foremost chemical weapons experts who have joined us here for the important discussions that we've had. over the last two days two weeks ago president obama made the decision that because of the agreed just use of chemical weapons in syria against innocent syrian citizens women and children all indiscriminately murdered in a night that claimed the lives even if people trying to rescue people he believed it was critical for the world to say no more. the president made the difficult decision that after multiple warnings it was his decision that the time had come to take military action to deter future use of such weapons. but he also made the decision that we needed to take time to

lavrov is very, very skilled. he's bright, eloquent, articulate, and clever, and a sense of lawyer like. he's very determined in the use of words and very hard -- very tough negotiator. this is not going to be easy. he's going to be tough to deal with. >> he spoke in russian, but he's fluent in english. i assume when he's speaking to john kerry, he spoke in english. you spoke to him in english. >> when you're in a private ceremony, you can drop the formality of an interpreter. >> in terms of a timeline, some people have been saying a couple weeks. how will you know something is actually working in these meetings? do you know it immediately? do you -- >> no, not immediately. this is going to take several weeks, i think. two weeks at least initially because you're going to go through the wordsmithing, plus you have the u.n. -- >> hold on, jay carney, press secretary. let's see if he opens up with q & a or house keeping. >> as some of you saw secretary kerry and his counterpart spoke in geneva. i wanted to allow you

foreign minister sergey lavrov says russia is ready syria to give up its chemical arsenal to avoid a foreign intervention an idea put forward by u.s. secretary of state john kerry. but shortly after john kerry made that statement in london the u.s. state department backtracked saying it was never intended as a real offer. in the battle for moscow is over. and is elected for a new term in office but opposition runnerup alexina valley refuses to concede defeat calling for a mass rally to demand a recount. you're watching tape with me and. now russia's foreign minister says he's ready to negotiate with syrian president bashar al assad to try and get him to hand over his chemical weapons stockpile to the international community he was responding to a statement from his u.s. counterpart john kerry will thomas joins us live from more on this show on this issue here isn't there because washington then withdrew that statement from kerry saying this rhetoric but russia have taken him up on the offer believing it could be a way forward indeed it's going to be interesting to see how all of this

the press conference here in geneva kicked up mother unconventionally with sergei lavrov strolling in sitting in amongst the forces chancing about the weather to them and clearly waiting for john kerry to show up but after three days of tense negotiations a deal had been struck to my second staunch one week in which to provide information on its chemical weapons stockpiles and their often they must allow unfettered access to weapons inspectors from the organization for the prevention of chemical weapons now in terms of the timeframe well the on site inspections have to be completed by november and finally the total elimination of syria's chemical weapons comes to take place in the past month and to see if you surely do not feel like the lehman summit out of hand well then chapter seven of the un security council could be applied and we can take a listen to both john kerry and sergey lavrov speaking about that in a little more detail now there can be no games no room for avoidance or anything less than full compliance by the regime in the event of noncompliance we have committed to imp

the agreement was lashed out with sergei lavrov, and israel's president and prime minister expressed cautious optimism about the deal, but said leaders should have a backup plan for a military response. we go live to jerusalem. simon, thank you for joining us. >> it's a pleasure. as i understand, you understand that the meeting between secretary of state kerry and benyamin netanyahu has begun. i spoke to one of benyamin netanyahu's senior officials. he told me that the phrase i have been using cautious welcome to this u.s.-russian plan is possibly too enthusiastic. the israelis are suspicious of the syrian regime - no surprises there. >> they like the idea of assad signing up to the chemical weapons convention, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. it will be about implementation and checking the implementation. i think john kerry will get hard questions from the israelis on that. >> the u.s. and russia have been asking israel to ratify the chemical weapons treaty. it hasn't happened. how likely is it that kerry will use today to ask israel again? >> well, there are some in

said well yes a very big development sergey lavrov russia's foreign minister says that he promises to support john kerry's initiatives when it comes to syria handing over their entire chemical weapons arsenal by next week this is a move that john kerry mentioned earlier today after his conversation with william hague the defense secretary or the foreign minister of the u.k. and basically it was kerry's way of giving syria a way out to prevent a possible u.s. led strike and right now sergey lavrov has said that he's going to support that idea and he's going to work with syria to make that a possibility to make that actually a reality so some big news coming from the foreign minister of russia just in ok thank you sean that's artie schoen thomas there just giving us a quick update after that press conference by russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov. moscow's acting is poised for a second term in office after winning sunday's election with just over fifty percent of votes his main rival alexina valli put up a tough challenge though securing twenty seven percent and is demanding a runof

we do know that lavrov and kerry will meet yet again on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly in about two weeks' time but yes, absolutely, richelle that's been one of the major points that's discussed here when the delegations arrived a lot of chemical weapons experts who broke off and talked about how logistically this was going to be done. it is widely accepted this is an incrediblely difficult thing to do. a cease fire or perhaps a larger context, attempts at brokering some sort of peace in syria. but its has to be -- it has to be noticed and it has to be on the minds of everybody here, that this is still a bloody civil war. and sending those teams in to secure the chemical weapons stockpile is going to be a very difficult task indeed, although officials here say, yes, difficult but not impossible. richelle. >> phil litner live in geneva. >>> a little while later we'll go live to the u.n. diplomatic resolution of the situation in syria. >>> in iraq, in the city of artella, 13 miles east of mosil, no one has claimed responsibility for that attack. >>> impli

lavrov wouldn't do anything out there individually. it may be kerry's throw away and lavrov's pickup had something, whether this was a carefully articulated effort. >> i think that's a good point. i heard the president say in one of the interviews that actually he had discussed it previously with russian president putin. >> how does this come out of nowhere? >> i think tom pickerring is suggesting it hasn't come out of nowhere. >> aren't you concerned this is just a delaying tack tactic on both the syrian part and russian part? >> absolutely. they delayed talks endlessly while they created more and more enrichard uranium to make bombs of course. >> -- enriched urine to make bombs. >> he told reporters that the russian rhetoric does not match their activity on the ground they are going to have to prove they mean it. you know the russians well, you were ambassador there. do you think the u.s. and the allies will impose a really tight deadline to force the reiterations han--the russians d to really progress talks on this? >> the quote you

foreign minister sergei lavrov said that he thinks that the syrian opposition should be forced to come to the negotiating table in order to proceed in order to proceed with the geneva two peace talks mr lavrov said that the assad government has already agreed to diplomatic efforts without any preconditions but the opposition in syria has not done the same russia believes that western countries should be putting more effort in convincing the rebels in syria to commit to the geneva two peace talks because thus far as long as the threat of military strikes has hung over the issue of the syrian conflict foreign minister lavrov believes that that has kept the opposition from coming to the table to take part in diplomatic negotiations while most of the world supported the syrian chemical disarmament deal with which russia and the u.s. shook hands on in geneva last week but investigative journalist pepe escobar says washington is trying to take credit for itself and downplay moscow's true sure role in the diplomatic breakthrough. there were already strictures trying to steal all the credit fo

to the stalled attempts to find a peaceful end to the vicious civil conflict foreign minister sergey lavrov and secretary of state john kerry outlined a six point plan under which damascus would hand over its chemical stockpiles now the outline will first have to be approved by the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons syria will now have a week to provide the u.n. with a complete list of all of its stockpiles so-called extraordinary procedures under the chemical weapons convention could be used to destroy the arsenal meanwhile all sides including the rebel groups have been told that they will be responsible for the safety of international inspectors and will have to provide free access to those sites. the ultimate aim is the complete removal or elimination of all syria's chemical weapons if any side in the conflict fails to comply with the proposed plan then the un charter chapter seven could then come into effect essentially allowing the use of force or naughty boy who has been following the negotiations in geneva press conference here in geneva kicked up rather unconventio

lavrov with the u.n. arab league envoy at the u.n. -- remember, these chemical weapons talks are taking place outside of the u.n. they went over to the u.n. and friday and they came out, the three of them, that they were going to re-energize efforts to bring big political peace talks to geneva talks that began last june in this city and continue next june. it appears until the beginning of this week and the extraordinary events of this week to have gone away altogether. they say they'll bring that back or attempt to, mr. kerry and mr. lavrov to meet later in september in new york perhaps to set a date for a geneva 2 peace conference. it all rides on success here on the chemical weapons front and on a buildup of trust and compromise to give impetus to a wider peace process. on that, we await details. the press conference perhaps coming up in a short while. >> thank you very much, jonah. that's jonah hall in geneva. we're waiting for this news conference from the u.s. secretaries of state and the russian fo

lavrov is said to be a master negotiator. kerry and his team plan to test the seriousness of russia's proposal to put syrian chemical weapons under international control. >>> meanwhile, syrian rebels are apparently disappointed with president obama's decision to forego a military strike in favor of diplomacy. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. tracie, what do we know about what secretary kerry will be doing and saying? >> reporter: a senior department official is telling us that the secretary's goal is to share assessment of where the chemical weapons are and how many -- what the capacity is with russia. and then to come up with a plan and to see if the russian plan will actually work. monitoring and verifying those weapons. they need to talk about security in terms of bringing down the stash of chemical weapons in syria, and timelines. they won't be talking about any sort of u.n. resolution, we're told, and it he could be there through saturday, so they could take actually about three days. you mentioned sergei lavrov

congressional option was was drawing up for mr obama and now i think russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has very artfully taken advantage of the administration's largely self generated difficulties put this diplomatic proposal on the table playing off of you know an offhand remark by secretary of state john kerry and he's really put the administration in a position where if it if it doesn't appear to be working in some seriousness with russia to try and make this proposal work you know the ministration is really completely checkmated in syria as it is if this diplomatic proposal does get some traction and details are able to be worked out that lets some version of it move forward i think the critical achievement here from a russian perspective from many of the perspective of many other players other critical achievement here is you've got an administration that was operating more and more outside the bounds of international law you've actually now potentially got them bound into a legal international framework for dealing with the syrian conflict and i think back could have a lot of imp

security council would be a place we can take a listen to john kerry and sergey lavrov talking about that in a little bit more detail right now. for anything less than full compliance by the regime in the event of noncompliance we have committed to impose measures under chapter seven within the security council. we expect full compliance with the requirements the organization for the process of chemical weapons imposes and if they are not somebody uses chemical weapons the un security council will take measures in accordance with chapter seven of the un charter. does not mean that every time a violation is reported actions will be taken automatically will first have to verify such reports because there are a lot of fabrications along these surrounding this issue and we have to be very careful in terms of reaction we've already heard from the syrian opposition that they reportedly have rejected this deal that has been struck in geneva and during the questions john kerry also made an interesting admission that the syrian opposition could have also got their hands on chemical weapons th

where mr lavrov were about so that may say again that we had that we we've had perfect relations yes so we are we differ a little bit about the method we should use in syria but i agree with him that our ultimate a our ultimate goal is this saying we agree that we should achieve this goal all this remains is to discuss. the matters to achieve the best possible solution. question one. to ask one french television show who was that meeting with hello. this is the valley of all the many of. you have with us with their french minister your colleague they report was presented yesterday to the yeah and according to that report. you were. supposed to point the a one responsible for a chemical attack and during our report we could come to a quick conclusion that it proves very seriously the fact that the syrian army was responsible and guilty of using the chemical weapon and with and it proved that the syrian army was responsible for launching those missiles is that a trustworthy report can we trust well the u.n. inspectors did not have a mandate to determine the guilt scene. was not an op t

help end the vicious civil conflict areas secretary of state john kerry and foreign minister s ergei lavrov outlined a plan that would give syria a week to provide the u.n. with a complete list of its chemical weapons stockpile. "extraordinary procedures" could be used to destroy the arsenal. rebel groups will have to provide free access to the sites. the ultimate aim is th complete removal or elimination of all syria's chemical weapons. it's any side in the conflict fails to comply with the plan, you win charter chapter seven could come into effect, essentially allowing the use of force. our correspondent has been following the negotiations. corrects the press conference here in geneva kicked off rather unconventionally with sergei lavrov sitting in amongst the reporters, chatting and clearly waiting for john kerry to show up. after days of tense negotiations, a deal has been struck. damascus has one week in which to provide information on its chemical weapons stockpiles and thereafter they must allow unfettered access to weapons -- inspectors from the organization for the prevention of ch

of threats and three days of talks secretary of state john kerry and his russian counterpart sergei lavrov have reached a deal on syria's chemical weapons. in a statement he cloms the progress. if the assad regime fails to comply, the sanctions could cut in. allows for punitive action but the u.s. acknowledges they are not seeking military authorization from the u.n. which russia says it would vee to you. weapons inspectors will be dps entire chemical weapons arsenal to be secured or destroyed by the middle of 2014. for more we are joined by phil litner who is in geneva. phil this is the beginning of a very long process while they seem to arrive at this fairly quickly, implementation is something completely different. we have to still dissect what this means, what the implications of this agreement are. >> well, yeah, richelle. i mean as you say, this is just the beginning of a very long process. this is not the end. it may have been three days and after a couple of weeks of crisis but we are now looking at a lengthy process of trying to secure a large stock people, perhaps the world's lar

. >>> us secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov held the second day of talks on friday in geneva. the u.n. and arab league lakhdar brahimi joined them and they have discussed the international conference to bring together the represents of the syrian government and all opposition forces. >> we're working hard to find the common ground to make that happen. >> we design a road which would make sure that this issue is resolved quickly, professionally, as soon as practical. >> kerry and lavrov will meet again on saturday and they agree to continue discussions later this month in new york at the u.n. general assembly. >>> a court in new dehli sentenced four men to death for the gang rape and death of a woman and carried out the attack last december along with two others. the case generated international attention and sparked a national debate on the treatment of women in india. the district court in new delhi on friday ordered them to be hanged. the judge noted that india is experiencing an increase in crimes against women. he said the courts cannot turn a

we have to take sergei lavrov at face value. it's an interesting development. it seems the world may be more on the same page than we thought at first. >> also we are hearing from the russian foreign minister that russia would like to participate in the syrian chemical weapons clean up. we heard bits and pieces of that before. the russians want to be involved on the ground in the clean up that will take place. stand by, let's play some of the sound by secretary-general ban ki-moon after the vote. >> it's the first hopeful news on syria in a long time. for many months i have said that the confirmed use of chemical weapons in syria would require a firm united response. tonight the international community has delivered. >> we heard this from ban ki-moon, and from secretary of state john kerry. this was almost a reaffirmation of the united nations itself. >> it was. it is. that's really what the security council boils down to. it's everything that happens in the general assembly and in the secretariat building behind me and multiple offices all around the world, bo

this as talks resume in geneva with john kerry and sergey lavrov. syria says it is willing to secure and destroy its chemical weapons stockpile if the u.s. gives up its threat of military action. and rescuers are trying to reach people in three colorado towns cut off by massive flooding. thousands have been forced to flee their homes. >>> two seaside towns have to rebuilt again after a devastating fire you see right there. dozens of businesses were destroyed along the boardwalk. the fire started at an ice cream shop, the cause not yet known. ♪ >>> tropical storm ingrid has formed in the gulf of mexico. take a look at the radar. right across here, this system is going to remain relatively stationary the next 24 hours, but will slowly track north and west spilling an abundance of rain locally. that could trigger life-threatening mud slides into southeast portions of texas we'll see an abundance of rainfall. tropical storm warnings have been issued. meanwhile in colorado we are in a flood warning right in denver, the foothills, we could see an additi

now one thing lavrov did talk about was the situation in the aleppo syria back in march where the russian government believes they have evidence that it was the syrian rebels the opposition that actually used chemical weapons that they pointed to the fact that the ordinance used to deliver sarin gas were not manufactured by mass and also that the gas itself was not industrially produced therefore pointing to the fact that it was the opposition that used chemicals at that time they wanted to have an investigation they were willing to cooperate they were ready to move forward and lavrov said that it was the western partners on the u.n. security council that delayed they didn't seem interested in having an investigation of that time perhaps because it was the rebels that were in question here so today said a lot of reiterating russia's stance and strongly against the idea of western intervention. all right thanks a lot artie's sean thomas there for us now sean just mentioned the u.s. is building a case for war on its own claims and intelligence washington has also pointed to amateur footage

congressional option was was drawing up for mr obama and now i think russian foreign minister sergey lavrov has very artfully taken advantage of the administration's largely self generated difficulties put this diplomatic proposal on the table playing off of you know perhaps an offhand remark by secretary of state john kerry and he's really put the administration in a position where if it if it doesn't appear to be working in some seriousness with russia to try and make this proposal work. the ministration is really completely checkmated in syria as it is if this diplomatic proposal does get some traction and details are able to be worked out that lets some version of it move forward i think the critical achievement here from a russian perspective from many of the perspective of many other players the critical achievement here is you've got an administration that was operating more and more outside the bounds of international law you've actually now potentially got them bound into a legal international framework for dealing with the syrian conflict and i think back could have a lot of impli

various other parties take this up that mr lavrov is is going to you know pay a lot of attention to the details and i think his goal is going to be to use the negotiation of this agreement basically to get the united states to make as much of a commitment as as he can extract that if this deal is implemented if syria really does put its chemical weapons stocks under international supervision that the united states is not going to strike and if indeed united states won't agree to that then it makes it very clear that the real agenda driving obama's policy in syria all along is not really chemical weapons and just not even really humanitarian considerations it's other considerations and so the administration will either be put in a position where it signs up to that and says basically ok if we can address this chemical weapons issue the united states is not going to be using military force essentially to take sides in the syrian civil war and if he doesn't do it then you know the united states can't take yes for an answer i mean it's i think it's very interesting is it to the united state

bisect mr lavrov for. by the us and to moscow at this moment. in. new. specially that the war drums are out. of the way you said but by the machines. this is we're asking ourselves. are demotivation that americans you. speak about to launch a strike against us about the chemical weapons is a true couples. just that it is easier for us as it is on the beach and it will go huge. as our true. and we're saying the. diplomatic efforts it's not over to reach the end of the syrian trouble. in. over me but i think she's here. with me to give us you know who. we are for protecting our people and our children and our country and. we're confident in russian efforts. would cooperate with russia totally about all this. to stop this strike against us you see he sees the world in his he's in. his yeah but it's all just the citizens in the us and. some of the c.b.c. . oh ok. but if they aim striking. you on syria and that's what we believe in if they aim. to destroy our army syrian army. and give the qaeda and terrorists a percentage to win. like brigades of. and this t

an aide traveling with secretary kerry told me he informed minister lavrov, have the ability to talk straight with each other. while technical advisers huddle in smaller working groups and this created a, quote, real opportunity to move forward. >> james rosen traveling with the secretary in geneva tonight. thanks. >>> taliban militants hit an american diplomatic facility in the middle east today. we're told no americans were hurt. so it was not another benghazi, but it does raise the question of whether the u.s. is now perceived as too weak or reluctant to defend itself or to go after terrorists responsible for attacks. national security correspondent jennifer griffin reports tonight from the pentagon. a warning here, her story contains images you find disturbing. >> reporter: the taliban attempted to complex attack on the u.s. consulate in western afghanistan. a sleepy part of the country near the border with iran. at dawn, two vehicles packed with explosives approached the u.s. mission. a gunfight ensued. seven attackers, some wearing suicide bomb belts were killed by afghan secur

john kerry and sergei lavrov hot -- had a response. is a milestone in space exploration. for the first time, a human made object left the solar system. the voyage of one space probe has entered interstellar space. it was launched in 1977 and since then has traveled 5 billion kilometers per year. if all goes well, it will continue to send data to earth for another 12 years. germany's leading actors died at the age of 72 on thursday. namee 1970's, he made a for himself on stage at a berlin theater. a very delicate process, when you're up there and people are watching. i want to let part of me out, open myself up so you can look in. >> he moved to the big screen, winning international acclaim in movies, including the tin drum. and for his role as a captain in , and he willfilm be remembered as one of the great german actors of his age. russia, an opposition candidate failed in his bid to stop his program opponent from being sworn in as mayor of moscow. on thursday, the court rejected his charges of vote rigging. they gave the close ally of president hooton a slight edge in t

but kerry has had a bit of a bad run with lavrov. although they both claim to be friends, they have had a bunch of pretty tense encounters over the last six months, many of them surrounding syria. >> anne gearan, thanks so much. we'll continue to watch this. peter alexander will look at some of the big stories we're following today. peter, that is obviously the new jersey fire. >> that's certainly the case, andrea. business owners at the jersey shore are faced with another long and painful rebuilding process after this devastating fire that swept through seaside parks boardwalk. it hit shops, restaurants. firefighters worked through the night pouring thousands of gallons of water on it. the little left on the famous walkway, governor christie had a message. he held a press conference a little earlier this morning. take a listen. >> we have endured and begun to come back from the devastation of sandy. we will not let these fires destroy those efforts. >> nbc's kristen dahlgren is live in seaside heights right now. kristen, give us a s

my counterpart sergey lavrov as president putin sent him here indicates that both presidents believe the preferred route which i think is the preferred route of most of the citizens of the world is to find a peaceful solution to these kinds of conflicts and that's what i think we have worked in good faith to try to do here today. and. i believe that my question is. to both of you have you reached an agreement regarding how much chemical weapons does syria have where will destruction take place some syrian territory in the or in the third country and who will pay for that. business with all of these questions are explained in the peepers which you will receive shortly will be on these papers includes our astronauts estimates by our experts but the final decision on the matter and basically all know the other matters will be taken by the old p.c. w. council this is. not these papers reflect the joint the vision regarding the timeline procedures and so on and so forth but like i said earlier we need to submit our proposal to deal p c w and then these suggestions will be finalized and fo

actually we're hearing there will be an opening statement by both foreign minister lavrov, and secretary of state kerry, and then they'll go into those talks. there is a lot on the table, not only whether or not there will be a joint un resolution put forward by the russians and the west, but also how this would be done, and we do know that there are large teams of scientific, logistical, and military experts that have come with both sides, the russians and the americans to discuss just how this would be done, presuming that they come to some sort of agreement on a un resolution. so a lot on the table. richelle. >> and with further complications happening with these new conditions that are coming out of syria from president bah shard al-assad, i think it has made the task more difficult and they haven't even started. >> yeah, they haven't even started talking, and now we're hearing all of these things coming out of damascus on this interview that he conducted with the russian team. no doubt there will be consternation on the western side of things that basharal assad has said. there will

to sergei lavrov coming out of that meeting they both agreed that syria would work with russia to stop a strike from the west and also syria had agreed to come to the negotiating table with no conditions that's big news but the biggest news is that syria has agreed to release their chemical weapons arsenal to the international community let's listen to what. i had to say about that i have listened to the russian foreign minister's statement and i want to say that we welcome his initiative as a government can as about the lives of the syrian people and our national security and also because we trust the russian government's judgment and its efforts to prevent us aggression against the syrian people now let's backtrack and see how we got to this exact point it started off with john kerry meeting with his counterpart in the u.k. william hague in london out of that meeting kerry said that syria if they want to avoid a an attack from the u.s. they could turn over their entire chemical weapons arsenal by the end of the this week out of that sergey lavrov then came out and said he welcomes th

but in announcing the details of the agreement secretary of state john kerry and sergey lavrov say the work has just begun. >> the implementation of this framework which will require vigilance and investment of the international community and full accountability of the assad regime presents a hard road ahead. >> translator: we understand the decisions we have reached today is only the beginning of the road. >> reporter: hours before around the geneva hotel swimming pool, kerry, lavrov and top aides hammered out final details over coffee and handshake, reaching a four-page agreement and a calendar of specific goals. in a week syria must tell where the chemical weapons and where they are. in november syria must provide independent international inspectors unlimited access to its entire chemical arsenal and an initial report on their findings must be issued by the end of the month. by mid 2014, all chemical weapons and material must be destroyed or removed from syria. it won't be easy, as nbc's ian williams reports from geneva. >> this is an incredibly ambitious agreement. one senior u.s.

i know that you've been advocating for arming the rebels but that's not lavrov's line. that's not the russians' line. that's president obama's. >> but again, in all due respect to the president, if someone dies by being tortured to death or shot in the head with a bullet or from inhaling a chemical weapon, what's the difference? it's the president that set a red line and i'm not sure if it was an off-hand remark or what. now that red line has been crossed. the president said he was going to strike. he announced he was going to strike. then he decided that he had to go to congress for permission to do so or endorsement for doing so. and spoke to the american people, arguing for a pause and action and of course my constituents are confused by all this. and then of course with an off-hand remark from the secretary of state also saying there's no way they'll ever remove -- >> right. >> then lavrov, who is many things, including an old agent, seized upon that and now puts putin in a position of almost unprecedented influence in these affairs. >> let's talk about putin. what