OPCW mission in Syria shouldn't serve anyone's geopolitical interests - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has accused Western countries of attempting to make an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission in Syria serve someone's geopolitical interests instead of working to establish the facts.
"Malicious attempts to substitute one definition with another are now being made in the West day in, day out," he said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper.
Moscow wants an OPCW mission to work at two sites - the town of Khan Sheikhun and the Shayrat airfield - and wants the composition of such a mission to be balanced, Ryabkov said.
These requirements put forth by Moscow are seen in the West as attempts to hamper the mission's work, he said.
"Moscow is not against the mission's work there [at these two sites]," he said.
"But we want it [the OPCW mission] to operate there correctly, working to establish the facts, something that, in fact, is reflected in its name, rather than serving the political and geopolitical interests of a narrow group of countries," Ryabkov said.
"Regrettably, the session of the OPCW Executive Council in The Hague confirms our concerns that this simple truth is being rejected by many," he said.
