PARIS — Syria has accepted a proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control for dismantling, the Syrian foreign minister said today, as France proposed a U.N. resolution that would enforce the plan militarily if the government failed to follow through.

The moves are part of flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at averting Western military action. Speaking in Moscow, Walid al-Moallem said his government quickly agreed to the plan to “thwart U.S. aggression” — an allusion to possible U.S.-led strikes in retaliation for a deadly Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus that Western powers blame on the Syrian regime. Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied the claim.

Russia, Syria’s most powerful ally, is working with Damascus to prepare a detailed plan of action that will be presented soon, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Russia will then be ready to finalize the plan with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Western officials have expressed caution about possible stalling tactics or efforts to wriggle out of international pressure by Assad’s regime in Syria, where more than 100,000 people have died in more than two years of civil war.

Al-Moallem’s response came after France said it would put forward the resolution in the U.N. Security Council aimed at forcing Syria to ultimately dismantle its chemical weapons program.

France, like Russia, a permanent member of the 15-nation council, will start the resolution process today under a part of the U.N. charter that is militarily enforceable, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said at a news conference in Paris.

The proposal would also condemn the chemical weapons attack.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Assad could resolve the crisis by ceding control of his chemical arsenal to the international community. Lavrov responded by promising to push Syria to place the weapons under international control and then dismantle them quickly, to avert U.S. strikes. China too expressed support for the plan.

President Barack Obama said Monday that the Russian proposal could be “potentially a significant breakthrough,” but he remained skeptical that Syria would follow through and is pressing ahead with efforts to persuade Congress to authorize a military strike.

Obama said the idea actually had been broached in his 20-minute meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week on the sidelines of an economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Obama said he directed Kerry to have more conversations with the Russians.

Fabius said the French resolution would demand that Syria bring fully to light its chemical weapons program, place it under international control and scrap it — and a violation of that commitment would carry “very serious consequences.” The resolution would also seek to bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack that killed hundreds, he said.

In Washington with opposition to military action growing among Americans and lawmakers, President Barack Obama was heading to Congress. Obama had planned to use the meetings with Democratic and Republican senators to personally lobby for his plan of targeted strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Obama will address the nation today at 9 p.m.