Talks on disarming the Syrian government of its chemical weapons to be held in Geneva

US secretary of state John Kerry has arrived in Geneva to meet Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov as the UN tries to forge an international plan to disarm the Syrian government of its chemical weapons.

Lavrov and Kerry will discuss efforts to agree a UN resolution on the issue, as well as the practicalities of finding, removing and destroying chemical stockpiles during a civil war in which more than 100,000 people have already died.

However, the diplomats are expected to clash on whether a UN resolution should contain the threat of force – something to which Russia is deeply opposed.

The meeting comes a day after the permanent members of the Security Council – the US, UK, China, Russia and France – met to discuss the content of draft resolutions proposed by Russia and France. The discussion “helped to pave the way for tomorrow’s meeting” in Geneva, one council diplomat told the AP news agency, but an agreement was not reached.