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Conflict in Syria

Russian Defense Ministry: US tries to make OPCW voice accusations against Damascus

It seems that the OPCW simply has no convincing proof of the involvement of Damascus in a ‘chemical attack’ in Syria’s Douma, the ministry said

© EPA-EFE/YOUSSEF BADAWI

MOSCOW, May 17./TASS/. The United States is putting pressure on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to make it voice accusations against official Damascus, the Defense Ministry told reporters on Thursday.

Read also

OPCW inspectors finish fact-finding mission in Syria’s Douma

"It seems as if the OPCW simply has no convincing proof of the involvement of Damascus in a ‘chemical attack’ in Syria’s Douma that was used as a pretext for a missile strike of the US, the UK and France against Syria," the ministry said. "That is why, the initiators of the missile strikes are trying to compel the OPCW into voicing any accusations against Damascus," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, these accusations will be used as the motive for giving new authorities to the OPCW, a purely technical agency today (fact-finding mission) - "establishing ‘the guilty party’ instead of the Joint Mechanism for Investigating Chemical Weapons Use in Syria that was discredited and ended its activity at the end of 2017," it said.

The end goal of putting pressure on the OPCW member countries is Washington’s bid to turn this organization into "an instrument of political pressure on Syria under the control for US machinations," the ministry added.

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Syrian conflict

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