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Russian reporter presents evidence of use of chemical weaponry by Syrian militants

The handover of the video materials was confirmed to Itar-Tass by Farhan Haq, the Associate Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General

UNITED NATIONS, May 24 (Itar-Tass) - A Russian reporter who has visited Syria has handed video footage on a chemical attack presumably organized by the irreconcilable Syrian opposition near Aleppo March 19 to the UN Secretariat.

The handover of the video materials was confirmed to Itar-Tass by Farhan Haq, the Associate Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General.

According to Haq, the Office of the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs /Angela Kane/ has received the video footage and is transferring it into a format suitable for further use. The information will also be passed on to Ake Sellstrom, a Swedish scientist heading a team of UN experts dispatched to Syria for examining the reported combat employment of chemical weapons.

Earlier, the special correspondent of the Russian State Broadcasting Company VGTRK, Anastasia Popova told Itar-Tass she had submitted to the UN Secretariat the video materials she had filmed during one of her recent trips to the country.

She voiced the hope the information would be considered shortly given the pressing character of the problem.

Damascus sent a notification to the UN Secretariat at the end of March on a chemical attack effectuated by the Syrian opposition in the Khan Al-Asal district, a suburb of Aleppo. A report made by Anastasia Popova confirmed the fact of utilization of poisonous chemicals, as it included footage from the spot of the incident and the evidence provided by eyewitnesses, the physicians who had examined the survivors and the dead, and experts from Aleppo University.