Russian diplomat seeks UN Secretariat's response to Damascus chemical arms probe request
MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) - Moscow has accused the UN Secretariat of pursuing what it called an inconsistent approach toward the Syrian government's request to investigate the recent instance of chemical weapons use in the city of Aleppo and has demanded a proper response to it.
Any delays with this investigation could end if, "in our opinion, the UN Secretariat agrees to respond to the Syrian government's request," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Interfax ahead of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Russia on May 16-19.
"We support the launch of a process aimed at investigating any concrete instances of chemical weapons use in Syria. I cannot say that the [UN] Secretariat's approach to this issue has been consistent. It has changed more than once, including under pressure on the secretary general from a number of countries," he said.
"The situation surrounding Damascus' request has been politicized and demands have been made to permit inspectors' unhindered access to all of the facilities inside the country and all of the persons they would like to meet with, although there are no other confirmed instances of the use of chemical weapons or chemical substances, except for the Aleppo situation," the deputy minister said.
It is a fact that the UN secretary general received a letter from the Syrian government, which sought an inquiry into this concrete incident of chemical weapons use near Aleppo, he said.
"The only thing they had to do was to fulfill this request and send inspectors, especially as a group of experts had already been formed," Gatilov said.
"We were prepared to send our experts within this inspection group, but then we made quite a reasonable decision that the secretary general should not include specialists from the [UN] Security Council member countries in this team," he said.