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15Apr17

Moscow calls on Syrian opposition to provide security for OPCW inspectors – Lavrov

Moscow's position is the Syrian opposition promised security of the international experts as they investigate into a possible use of the sarin agent in the Syrian province of Idlib, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference following his talks with Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani on Saturday.

He said the international group of experts should have full access both to the aerodrome, which is controlled by the government, and to the incident site, which is under control of the armed opposition.

"Thus, I believe, there are no reasons to investigate remotely into this incident, like POCW is going to do," the foreign minister said. "We have corrected it (the organization) and will insist it fulfilled the obligations more thoroughly."

"The Syrian government has invited officially the experts to participate in the investigation by sending to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) a respective invitation," the Russian minister said. "As for the districts, which are controlled by the opposition, leader of the so-called High Negotiations Committee Riyad Hijab announced publicly he is ready for all the support for the investigation."

"My view is this includes also guarantees for safe access to that part of the Idlib Province," Lavrov added.

According to data of the Russian Defense Ministry, Syrian warplanes delivered an air strike on April 4 that hit workshops where terrorists were producing munitions with chemical agents supplied to Iraq and used in Aleppo.

However, Washington concluded that Damascus had used chemical weapons. As a result, the US military fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on the military aerodrome in the province of Homs, from which, as Washington believed, a chemical attack had allegedly started. The missile strike killed 10 people.

[Source: Itar Tass, Moscow, 15Apr17]
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