Signatories are supposed to destroy any chemical weapons under their control and to allow UN inspectors access to their sites.
Putin, Assad’s most powerful foreign ally, said the Syrian offer could end the crisis, but only if the United States withdraws its threat to take punitive action.
“It all makes sense and can work if the US side and all those who support it renounce the use of force,” Putin said, according to Russian television.
“It is difficult to constrain Syria or another country to disarm unilaterally while military action against that country is being prepared.”
Kerry, taking part in an online discussion hosted by Google+, urged Assad to seize the chance for peace.
“Help us in the next days working with Russia to work out the formula by which those weapons can be transferred to international control and destroyed,” he pleaded.
Kerry is to discuss the crisis on Thursday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
The US secretary of state said he had already discussed Russia’s disarmament plan with Lavrov by telephone and, while Washington remains cautious, he said he found the ideas interesting.
“If we can in fact secure all of the chemical weapons in Syria through this method, clearly that’s by far the most preferable, and would be a very significant achievement,” he said.
Washington’s allies France and Britain said they were drawing up a tough UN resolution that would authorize enforcement action if Syria failed to hand over its weapons.
“It will provide for extremely serious consequences in the event of Syria violating its obligations,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said it would contain strict timetables.
“This is not about… monitoring chemical weapons in Syria. It’s got to be about handing them over to international control and their destruction,” he said.
The crisis flared when Assad’s forces launched a brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests in March 2011, and spiralled into a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.
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