Shulgin: OPCW’s report on Syria’s Douma contradicts conclusions reached by members of its fact-finding mission
NEW YORK, (ST)- Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin said during a Security Council meeting late Monday that the OPCW’s investigations into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria’s Douma are incomplete and they contain big gaps.
The conclusions provided in the OPCW’s report contradict the conclusions reached by members of the OPCW’s fact-finding mission which had visited Syria, said Shulgin.
He stressed that the United States, Britain and France have tried to distort facts concerning Douma chemical incident.
Shulgin reiterated that members of the British Work Group on Syria led by professor Piers Robinson have asked the OPCW to provide clarifications regarding the March 1st report on Douma incident, but they didn’t get a clear answer.
He pointed out that the Russian side suggested that the OPCW General Secretariat announces the conclusions of the report submitted by the three independent experts on the Douma incident, but the suggestion was refused under the pretext of guaranteeing the security and safety of those experts.
This behavior, according to Shulgin, raised doubts that no search works or investigation have been conducted and that the investigations were used as a pretext to say that there were airstrikes on that area.
Hamda Mustafa