MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The activities of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concerning Syria’s chemical weapons issue raise questions, Deputy Director of the Armaments Non-Proliferation and Control Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry Vladislav Antonyuk said on Tuesday.
The diplomat pointed out that two OPCW special missions had been tackling the Syrian chemical weapons issue, one of which "was set up upon the initiative of the United States and like-minded countries." "Unfortunately, we failed to block this decision," Antonyuk said.
"A number of questions still remain unanswered," he went on to say. "With time, it gets harder and harder to deal with the current OPCW authorities, particularly, with Director General Ahmet Uzumcu, who has been led by the so-called Friends of Syria," the Russian diplomat added.
Antonyuk noted that Russia had been maintaining cooperation with the second mission of the OPCW, which is the Fact-Finding Mission. "We have been contacting this mission almost every day and we have been thoroughly monitoring its activities," he added. "In fact, this is one of the major topics that (Russian Foreign Minister) Sergey Lavrov touches upon while speaking in public," Antonyuk added.