BEIRUT (AP) A senior Russian diplomat said today that the mission from the international chemical weapons watchdog cannot access the site of an alleged chemical attack near the Syrian capital without an appropriate U.N. permit.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkovs remarks could indicate a possible attempt to bog down the team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, though both Russia and the Syrian government have welcomed the OPCW visit in the wake of the Wests air-strikes in Syria over the weekend.
Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow that what is hampering a speedy resolution of the missions visit to the Syrian town of Douma, affected by the alleged chemical attack, was the consequences of the illegal, unlawful military action, a reference to the punitive airstrikes.
A team from the OPCW arrived in Syria shortly before the air-strikes early Saturday. It has met with Syrian officials but has not visited the town at the center of the controversy. Government forces and Russian troops have deployed in Douma, which has now fallen under the control of the Syrian government.
It is the lack of approval by the U.N. Department for Safety and Security for OPCW experts to visit the site in Douma that is the problem, Ryabkov told reporters, adding that he checked just a short while ago what was delaying their visit.
Russia said it is not curtailing the missions visit, and appears instead to be blaming the international organization for the delay. But Syrian opposition and activists have criticized the Russia deployment in the town, saying that evidence of chemical weapons use might no longer be found. Russia and Syria deny the attack took place.
The Kremlin quickly denied reports that Russia was not allowing the OPCW mission in, without elaborating.
As far as I understand what is hampering a speedy resolution of this problem is the consequences of the illegal, unlawful military action that Great Britain and other countries conducted on Saturday, said Ryabkov.
The OPCW is holding an emergency meeting on Monday in The Hague to discuss the suspected chemical attack in Douma.
