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Russia satisfied with OPCW conclusions sulphur mustard gas used [in Syrian Maarat Umm-Hawsh village] by terrorists

(MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS) ~ Russia is satisfied with conclusions included in the OPCW mission’s report that sulphur mustard gas was used in the Syrian village of Maarat Umm-Hawsh in the Aleppo region, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

“The conclusions we had made along with our Syrian counterparts that terrorists used sulphur mustard in the populated locality of Maarat Umm-Hawsh have been fully confirmed at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). We state this with satisfaction,” the ministry said.

Russia has provided assistance to Syria in the investigation by sending samples, documentary and material evidence collected at the scene to authorized experts, the Russian foreign ministry said. The evidence the OPCW mission has about the use of chemical weapons in Syria will be handed to the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) for further studying.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged to identify those guilty in the incident and those who coordinated the attack.

The Human Rights Watch’s report that a Soviet bomb was used in an alleged chemical attack on the Syrian town of Khan-Shaykhun does not stand up to criticism, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

“So-called investigations into the Khan-Shaykhun (attack) and the above-mentioned Human Rights Watch do not stand up to any criticism. All relevant conclusions are mostly made on witnesses’ testimonies, with practically all of them given online. What is more, the witnesses are exclusively members of Syrian opposition.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has pointed out that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia, as its successor, has ever dispatched abroad the shells used for delivery of toxic substances.

“We insist that experts of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission (on the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons) should be immediately dispatched to Khan-Shaykhun and Shayrat air base, where bombs with sarin nerve agent were allegedly stored, to carry out a professional and impartial investigation at the scene,” the statement says.

“The goal could be reached given all the procedures stipulated in the Chemical Weapons Convention are observed.”

On April 4, the town of Khan-Shaykhun in Syria’s Idlib region was hit by an alleged chemical attack. The Russian Defense Ministry said the Syrian aircraft had bombed the workshops then where terrorists were producing munitions with chemical agents supplied to Iraq and used in Aleppo. Washington accused the Syrian government of the attack.

US President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on an air base in the Syrian Homs Governorate and the US military fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on it from warships in the Mediterranean in early hours of April 7.

RELATED (from 4 May 2017):

Zakharova: “Moscow ‘concerned’ about OPCW response to Syria chemical incident probe”

Spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova held her weekly press briefing in Sevastopol, Thursday.

She spoke about the investigation into the alleged chemical attack in Idlib, saying that Russia was concerned “about the lack of an adequate response from the OPCW [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] to the Russian proposal to send a mission to Syria from the experts of this organisation”.

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russian): “Recently, the Ukrainian authorities announced the commissioning of a dam that will block the supply of Dnieper water to Crimea. As reported, this structure is designed to fulfil a so-called important geopolitical mission. The meaninglessness of this step is obvious since this water has not flowed to the peninsula since the spring of 2014. The Crimeans learned to provide themselves with water from other sources. Looking at the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, it is simply impossible not to ask: who are you trying to inflict more damage? To the inhabitants of Crimea? You consider them your citizens. You were so happy when some of the Internet resources marked Crimea as Ukrainian territory. Does it mean that you oppress your own people? Are you torturing your people? Do you not give water to your own people? You cannot treat your own people like that.”

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russian): “We are very concerned about the lack of an adequate response from the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) to the Russian proposal to send a mission to Syria from the experts of this organisation. And of course, as we actually proposed, it is necessary to draw up this mission on a balanced geographical basis for the complete and impartial establishment of all the details of what happened. Instead, we are fed different kinds of conclusions by some well-known self-appointed experts who built the entire evidence base about the unconditional fault of the Syrian government about the use of chemical weapons in this Syrian settlement, remotely, without visiting the place, without examining the site of the alleged attack. As they claim, a Syrian air strike did it. All conclusions are based on an analysis of materials from the Internet. And all of this, of course, is more like an analysis, which was mostly concocted by the radicals and the Syrian opposition.”

SOURCES:
TASS, 6 May 2017
Ruptly TV
Submitted by Flyingcuttlefish
Edited by SyrianPatriots 
War Press Info Network at:
https://syrianfreepress.wordpress.com/2017/05/07/opcw-report/
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