The Syrian government has accepted a proposal by Russia to surrender its chemical weapons to international control, potentially nullifying U.S. rationale for launching strikes on Syria in order to deter chemical weapons use. Russia floated the proposal Monday following apparently offhand remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry about how Syria could avert U.S. military intervention if it turned over all chemical weapons in the next week. Obama responded to the Russian plan on PBS NewsHour, one of six TV appearances Monday.

President Obama: “My intentions throughout this process has been to ensure that the blatant use of chemical weapons that we saw doesn’t happen again. If in fact there’s a way to accomplish that diplomatically, that is overwhelmingly my preference. And, you know, I have instructed John Kerry to talk directly to the Russians and run this to ground.”