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Middle East and North Africa

Moscow hopes UN experts acknowledge its conclusions on chemical weapons use in Syria

On July 24-25 Damascus hosted the talks between Syria’s senior officials, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and head of U.N. investigation team

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, July 29 (Itar-Tass) - Moscow hopes that UN experts will take into consideration their Russian counterparts’ conclusions on the use of chemical weapons near Aleppo on March 19.

“On July 24-25 Damascus hosted the talks between Syria’s senior officials, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane and the head of U.N. investigation team on Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons, Ake Sellstrom. According to the existing information, the talks concluded with an agreement in principle on further interaction,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry welcomes “constructive nature of the contacts held in Damascus and the agreements reached that unfortunately, with a certain delay, open the way to a thorough and unbiased investigation of the use of chemical weapons in Khan Al-Asal near Aleppo on March 19 by the opposition as the Syrian authorities announce. It will also help check other assertions filed to the UN Secretary-General.”

“We on our part hope that the UN experts group will take into consideration their Russian counterparts’ conclusions concerning the incident in Khan Al-Asal placed in the documents handed over by the Russian side to the UN Secretary-General on July 9,” the ministry said.

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