UNITED NATIONS, April 11. /TASS/. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will send two expert teams to Syria later this week, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Tuesday after neither of the two draft resolutions on the presumable chemical attack in Syria’s Douma was passed.
"As far as we know, two OPCW expert teams are to be sent to Syria at the end of the current week," he said.
"If OPCW experts, due to some reason, fail to reach Douma because of resistance of those who are speculating on the chemical attack topic to vilify Russia and Syria, it will be yet another evidence proving that dirty geopolitical games are behind this false story. And, what is even worse, aggressive military plans that can reverse the positive dynamics of Syrian settlement and deliver a painful blow on the entire region tormented by military gambles," the Russian diplomat warned.
Some non-governmental organizations, including White Helmets, claim that chemical weapons were used in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7. According to the statement uploaded to the organization’s website on April 8, chlorine bombs were dropped on the city to kill dozens and poison other local civilians who had to be brought to hospital.
The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed that as fake news. The Russian Defense Ministry stated that White Helmets were an unreliable source, notorious for disseminating falsehoods. The Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties on April 9 examined Douma to find no traces of chemical weapons. Earlier, various official Russian agencies repeatedly warned that preparations had been underway in different parts of Syria for provocations and simulations of chemical attacks that would be blamed on government forces.