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Russia to counter allegations that Damascus used chemical weapons — Lavrov

Russia will strongly oppose any attempts to politicize the chemical dossier, the top diplomat said

SOCHI, October 11. /TASS/. Russia will quash the attempts to blame the Syrian government for the incidents with the use of chemical weapons in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at talks with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem on Wednesday.

"We will also strongly counter any attempts to politicize the chemical dossier and the attempts to accuse the Syrian government without any proof or professional investigation of a whole number of incidents, which occurred with the use of chemical warfare agents on your country’s territory," Lavrov said.

The attempts continue as part of the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council to "politicize the situation around the Syrian settlement and put forward one-sided accusations," Russia’s top diplomat said.

Lavrov stressed that Russia needs to know the recent assessment of the Syrian leadership on settling the crisis in the country so that the sides could continue coordination in all areas. He also plans to discuss cooperation of delegations from the two countries at international venues, including in New York and Geneva.

The Russian foreign minister also welcomed joint success of the two countries in the war on terror.

"Today we have a chance to discuss foreign policy aspects of our partnership, first of all that besides the success in the war on terror while the Syrian army is advancing backed by Russia’s Aerospace Forces, the preparations for political settlement are becoming more pressing," he said.

At the beginning of talks with Muallem, Lavrov recalled that "certain decisions" were reached on Tuesday at a meeting of the Russian-Syrian intergovernmental commission, attended by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.