Russia challenges UN report blaming Syria for gas attack

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Russia on Tuesday challenged at the UN Security Council the findings of an investigation that blamed the Syrian government for a sarin gas attack as the top United Nations body weighed the future of the panel.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said the work of the investigative panel was ‘deeply disappointing’ and suggested it was being used by the West to incriminate President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) concluded in a report last month that the Syrian government was responsible for the April 4 sarin attack at Khan Sheikhun that killed scores of people, including children.

Russia, Syria’s ally, and the United States have put forward competing draft resolutions on extending the work of the panel after its mandate expires on Nov 16.

“We are convinced that the mechanism, endowed with such high responsibility, cannot work in this way,” Safronkov told the council.

“Without a comprehensive change, it will become a tool to settle accounts with the Syrian authorities,” he said.

Russia maintains the report is not credible because the experts did not go to Khan Sheikhun and worked from samples Moscow maintains may have been tampered with by Western intelligence.

Presenting the findings, Edmond Mulet, the head of the panel, said the experts had established that the sarin was dropped in an air strike and that Syrian aircraft were in the area when the attack took place.

Analysis of the sarin used at Khan Sheikhun matched those of the nerve gas found in Syrian stockpiles, Mulet said, adding that this composition “would be very difficult to replicate.” — AFP