The US and Russian foreign ministers will hold a second day of talks in Geneva on how to put Syria's chemical weapons beyond use.
President Bashar al-Assad has pledged to join an international convention banning them.
Speaking ahead of that meeting the Russian President Vladimir Putin said the global community should welcome Syria's decision to join a ban on chemical weapons, saying it shows the "serious intentions" of Damascus.
"I believe we should welcome such a decision of the Syrian leadership. I would like to express hope that it will be a very serious step on the path to solving the Syrian crisis,"
"This confirms the serious intentions of our partners to go along this path," he said, referring to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, whom the Kremlin has backed throughout the two-and-a-half-year conflict.
Russia has proposed that Damascus give up its chemical weapons in a bid to avoid threatened military strikes by the US.
Assad said he would join the ban on chemical weapons but insisted that Washington renounce the "politics of threats" if it wanted the plan to work.
A second day of key talks takes place today in Geneva to hammer out a plan to secure Syria's chemical weapons.
But America's Secretary of State John Kerry remains sceptical:
