US and Russia in landmark deal on Syria weapons (3) The United States and Russia on Saturday agreed on an ambitious plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons by the middle of next year. In a landmark deal thrashed out in talks spanning three days, the two powers gave Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a week to hand over the details and location of his regime's stockpile, drastically cutting back on the 30 days usually accorded to new signatories of the international Chemical Weapons Convention. Images of the press conference and of US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov leaving the InterContinental hotel where their talks took place.