Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday warned the West not to take unilateral action on Syria, saying that Russia and China agree that violations of international law and the United Nations charter are impermissible.
Russia and China have opposed military intervention in Syria throughout 17 months of bloodshed and have vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions backed by Western and Arab states that would raise pressure on Damascus to end violence.
In some of his strongest language yet, U.S. president Brarack Obama on Monday bluntly warned Assad of "enormous consequences" if he failed to safeguard his weapons of mass destruction.
"We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized," Obama said. "That would change my calculus."
