UNITED NATIONS, February 5. /TASS/. The United States and the United Kingdom are seeking to use the United Nations Security Council to spread calumnies in respect of Russia and are sabotaging investigation of chemical attacks in Syria, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Monday at a Security Council meeting.

The meeting on the Syrian chemical dossier "is used by the United States and the United Kingdom to slander Russia," he said. "It is absolutely clear for us why. The success of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi and prospects for giving an impetus to the political process in Syria seem to be a pain in the neck for someone. So, a strong slander attack on Russia is needed to try once again to call to question its role in political settlement."

According to the Russian diplomat, the US and UK envoys once again accused Russia of seeking to hamper the probe into chemical attacks in Syria but their speeches "as always, contain a tiny piece of truth kneaded with lots of lies."

Russia "has never called to question the very fact of the use of sarin in Khan Shaykhun in April 2017," Nebenzya stressed. "But it still an open question who used it, because the JIM’s (UN/OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism that has ceased to exist) farcical conclusions are not convincing."

He drew attention to the fact that the Syrian authorities informed international organizations that hazardous chemical agents had been found in territories liberated from terrorists. "All this must be urgently investigated by OPCW experts," he said, adding that "titanic efforts are needed to have the Hague react duly to such signals." "They keep on finding a lot of pretexts not to go to Syria. They are dragging on the decision. Bearing in mind last year’s episodes in Khan Shaykhun and the Shairat airbase, it hints to a deliberate sabotage," the Russian diplomat said.

He stressed that Syria’s chemical arsenals had been destroyed but "more and more questions to the Syrian authorities are being invented." "Someone wants to spin up this carousel endlessly," he added.