Secretary Kerry: 50 percent of Syrian chemical weapons have been removed

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Monday with the director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at The Hague.

Speaking before his meeting with OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu, Kerry noted that approximately 50 percent of Syrian chemical weapons have been removed from the conflict-ridden country.

While that progress marker is "significant," much more work remains to be done to complete the removal.

"We have some real challenges ahead of us now in these next weeks. We in the United States are convinced that if Syria wanted to, they could move faster. And we believe it is imperative to achieve this goal and to move as rapidly as possible because of the challenges on the ground."

When asked whether Russia's cooperation in removing Syrian chemical weapons had been impacted by the international community's stand-off with Russia over its actions in Crimea, Kerry responded: "I hope not. ... I hope the same motivations that drove Russia to be a partner in this effort will still exist. This is bigger than either of our countries. This is a global challenge, and I hope Russia will stay hard to the task."

[State Department]