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Moscow calls on OPCW to speed up investigation into Aleppo chemical attack

Maria Zakharova said Moscow satisfied wit the fact that as a result of appeals of the Syrian and Russian parties to the OPCW, the experts on Jan 6 finally arrived in Syria to investigate the incident

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Moscow is urging the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to carry out a more thorough investigation into the chlorine attack in the Syrian city of Aleppo in November 2018, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing in Friday.

“Taking into account the time which elapsed since this incident, we are calling on the OPCW Technical Secretariat to galvanize the investigation and present a report to the organization’s executive council based on its results,” the diplomat said

“We note with satisfaction that as a result of the multiple appeals of the Syrian and Russian parties to the OPCW, the mission’s experts for the establishment of facts of the use of chemical weapons on January 6 finally arrived in Syria to investigate the chemical incident involving the use of chlorine. I’d like to reiterate that it happened in Aleppo in November 2018. According to the available information, the OPCW experts plan to visit hospitals and medical centers where the injured received help, and question the witnesses of this chemical attack,” she added. Zakharova hopes that the organization’s experts will also directly visit the site of the incident.

On November 24, 2018, militants who were in the de-escalation zone in the Idlib province fired shells with poisonous agents, possibly chlorine, into the residential area of Aleppo. More than 70 people were hospitalized after that, according to Syrian medics. The SANA news agency reported that 107 civilians were hospitalized. The Russian Air Force eliminated the terrorists who shelled the city. Following this incident, US authorities hurled accusations against Moscow, which the Russian Foreign Ministry denounced as absurd.

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Syria Maria Zakharova

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