OPCW’s report on Sarin Gas Use in Syria Based on Doubtful Data – Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW– Russia believes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) report on the use of a nerve agent in Syria last spring is based on doubtful data, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday, Sputnik reported.

The OPCW said earlier in the day that its fact-finding mission “had established the use of sarin in the April 4 incident in Khan Sheikhoun in the province of Idlib”.

“Unfortunately, we are forced to state on the first reading of the document that its conclusions are still based on very doubtful data,” the Russian ministry’s information and press department said.

 It noted that the OPCW’s data was “obtained from the same opposition and the same notorious NGOs of the White Helmet type, and not at the site of the tragedy but in a certain ‘neighboring country’.”

“Therefore, it is not surprising that the content of the OPCW special mission’s report is largely biased, suggesting the presence of a political order in this structure’s activity,” the ministry said.

Lavrov points out OPCW was unaware of how sarin was delivered to Syria’s Khan Shaykhun

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday speaking at the Primakov Reading forum that the OPCW is unaware how sarin was delivered to the Syrian city of Khan Shaykhun, according to Itar Tass.

“Yesterday, on June 29, the OPCW issued a report saying that they are not sure whether sarin that was allegedly found there or had been dropped in bombs from an aircraft,” the top diplomat said, citing the organization’s comment on chemical weapons incident in Syria’s Khan Shaykhun on April 4.

“They do not know how sarin was delivered there, can you imagine that? And they have been trying to escalate tensions over the past few months.”

US-Led Coalition Provocations Foster More Terrorist Activity in Syria – Shoigu

US-led coalition provocations foster the increased activity of terrorist organizations in Syria, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday.

“US-led coalition forces’ provocation contribute to the expansion of terrorist organizations in Syria,” Shoigu said via teleconference.

He added that Moscow had discontinued incident prevention memorandum contacts with Washington after the US military shot down a Syrian fighter jet on June 18.

Earlier in the week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Sputnik that the US strikes on the Syrian Armed Forces’ aircraft and drone mean aiding terrorists.

“In the case of strikes [by US forces on the aircraft and drone of the Syrian Armed Forces], we are dealing with an open complicity with the terrorists operating on Syrian soil,” Ryabkov said.

H.M