Russia says UN delaying fact-finding mission visit in Syria

Source: Associated Press




By SARAH EL DEEB and NATALIYA VASILEYVA
1 hour ago

BEIRUT (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat said on Monday that the mission from the international chemical weapons watchdog cannot access the site of an alleged chemical attack near the Syrian capital without an appropriate U.N. permit.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov’s remarks could indicate a possible attempt to bog down the team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, though both Russia and the Syrian government have welcomed the OPCW visit in the wake of the West’s airstrikes in Syria over the weekend.

Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow that what is hampering a speedy resolution of the mission’s visit to the Syrian town of Douma, affected by the alleged chemical attack, was “the consequences of the illegal, unlawful military action,” a reference to the punitive airstrikes.

A team from the OPCW arrived in Syria shortly before the airstrikes early Saturday. It has met with Syrian officials but has not visited the town at the center of the controversy. Government forces and Russian troops have deployed in Douma, which has now fallen under the control of the Syrian government.

Read more: https://www.apnews.com/5ef71f938d1f457f8a7768b7b6eddfb5/Syrians-rally-in-Damascus-in-support-of-Assad's-military