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Russia against sending OPCW reps to probe into chemical incidents in Ukraine — diplomat

According to Vladimir Tarabrin, Russia doesn’t want to "expose to danger the lives and health of international experts amid the extensive use of various weapons" along the engagement line

© AP Photo/ Peter Dejong

THE HAGUE, November 29. /TASS/. Russia sees no need to engage specialists from the technical secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to conduct probes in Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to The Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the organization Vladimir Tarabrin said.

Russia, in his words, doesn’t want to "expose to danger the lives and health of international experts amid the extensive use of various weapons, from drones to various artillery systems, along the combat engagement line."

Apart from that, "Russia has the necessary expertise to investigate the use of chemical weapons <…> and conducts its national probes as envisaged by the Chemical Weapons Convention," he stressed, adding that Russia has highly-qualified chemical weapons specialists, thoroughly documents all data it receives and refers collected samples to its national laboratories, which are accredited by the OPCW annually.

"Unlike the groundless accusations by Ukraine and its Western sponsors, we use only verified information," the Russian diplomat said. "We have nothing to hide. And we are ready to answer all questions from the technical secretariat if it has any questions about the reliability of the data we provide."

"To date, there have been no such inquiries," Tarabrin noted. "It means that the technical secretariat either has no doubts or is still studying the large amount of data it has received from us."

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