AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The Syrian government pledged to the Kremlin that it wouldn't use chemical weapons in the country's civil war, the Russian foreign minister said Tuesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a state visit to Jordan that he received security guarantees from the Syrian government.
"I rule out the use by the regime of chemical weapons," he was quoted by state-run news agency RIA Novosti as saying. "We have received the appropriate assurances."
He called on the Syrian government to offer similar pledges to Western governments. The White House in August said a Syrian deployment of chemical weapons would trigger "enormous consequences" from the United States.
Russia and China, two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have objected to draft resolutions condemning the Syrian government by saying they lacked balance. Western powers have openly called for regime change in Damascus.
British Prime Minister David Cameron told al-Arabiya he's supporting "anything" to get Syrian President Bashar Assad out of the country.
"I am certainly not offering him an exit plan to Britain but if he wants to leave he could leave, that could be arranged," he said Tuesday.
