President Obama’s decision shows how seriously and carefully these matters are being weighed up in the United States.

The time that has been gained needs to be used for the international community to reach a united stance in the United Nations Security Council. The international community must not turn a blind eye when horrific chemical weapons are used for the first time in the 21st century.

That is what we will have in mind in our work. Russia in particular now finds itself required to adopt a constructive attitude in the Security Council.

These considerations make it all the more important to hasten the analysis of what the United Nations inspectors have found, so that the final results of the investigations can be made available as soon as possible.