Russia says US is 'muddying' chemical weapons investigation

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The Kremlin on Wednesday accused Washington of trying to complicate international efforts to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria and rejected accusations it was responsible for recent attacks.

The comments came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia bore responsibility for recently reported chemical attacks by the Syrian government in East Ghouta.

"We categorically disagree with the approach of the Americans who have essentially muddied the real investigation of previous instances" of Syria chemical attacks, said Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov said US officials were jumping to conclusions "without any grounds whatsoever".

Tillerson made the charges against Russia on Tuesday as diplomats from 29 countries met in Paris to push for sanctions and criminal charges against the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria.

A Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army fighter stands guard in Azaz, Syria January 21, 2018. /Reuters Photo

"Only yesterday more than 20 civilians, most of them children, were victims of an apparent chlorine gas attack," Tillerson said.

"Whoever conducted the attacks, Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in East Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons, since Russia became involved in Syria."

US officials have accused Russia of failing to rid Syria of chemical weapons and blocking chemical weapons organisations.

The West has blamed the Syrian government for an April 2017 sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun which left scores dead.

Russia has contested the legitimacy of a chemical weapons panel known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism.

Syria says claims it uses chemical weapons 'lies'

The Syrian government said on Wednesday that claims by France and the United States that it was still using chemical weapons were “lies”.

Nikki Haley, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Syria at the United Nations in New York, NY on January 23, 2018./VCG Photo‍

In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, Syria’s foreign ministry said such claims were aimed at “obstructing any effort toward finding a way out of the crisis in Syria”.

In 2013 Syria said it would give up all of its chemical weapons.

In the past two years, a joint UN and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inquiry found the Syrian government used the nerve agent sarin and several times used chlorine as a weapon.

The Syrian army and government have consistently denied using chlorine or other chemical weapons during the war, now in its seventh year.

“Syria has always shown cooperation and provided the conditions necessary for an impartial, objective and professional investigation into the use of chemical weapons,” SANA said, adding that “the West” had hindered this process for political aims.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters