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Conflict in Syria

Moscow slams UN-OPCW report on Khan Shaykhun chemical incident

Moscow believes that conclusions by the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism are politically biased

© Nigel Treblin/Getty Images

ROME, November 8. /TASS/. Russia believes that conclusions by the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) probing chemical attacks in Syria of the incident in Khan Shaykhun are amateurish and politically biased, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry‘s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, Mikhail Ulyanov, said on Wednesday.

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Commenting on the report of the Joint Investigative Mechanism of the United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) submitted to the UN Security Council, Ulyanov said, "There is an impression that the United States was able to look through the document in advance and was reasonably alarmed that the JIM work would be subject to more criticism after its publication."

"That is what actually happened as the document is amateurish and was written as a political put-up job," he added.

In seeking an extension of the mandate of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) probing the alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria, the US in fact wants to leave everything as it is, with all drawbacks, he said.

"The US is forcing an open door, as a Russian draft resolution, envisaging an extension of the mandate until mid-May of the next year, has been on the UN Security Council table for a while," he said.

"In reality, the US is not interested in extending the mandate as it is, they need that the mandate be extended intact with all its drawbacks. They want to fix in the resolution a free hand for the mechanism, to see it operate absolutely uncontrollably," he said.

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