MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. Russia hails the decision of Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Ahmet Uzumcu to deploy a fact-finding mission to Syria’s Douma to collect evidence following reports about the alleged chemical attack, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary posted on the ministry’s website on Tuesday.
"First of all, I would like to note that we hail the decision of OPCW Director General Mr. Ahmet Uzumcu to deploy inspectors of the Fact-Finding Mission to Douma to analyze the situation on the ground, i.e. to collect evidence such as soil samples, samples from possible victims, etc.," she said.
"Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, it must be done only by OPCW inspectors. Such evidence are to be sealed and taken to the so-called attested OPCW laboratories (attested means that the OPCW and the entire international community trusts their conclusions)," she stressed.