Author Topic: Russia to show 'evidence' of chemical weapons used by Syrian rebels  (Read 856 times)

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Offline flowers

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Russia-to-show-evidence-of-chemical-weapons-used-by-Syrian-rebels/articleshow/22717749.cms

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MOSCOW: Russia will show the UN security council evidence it has received from Syria's government pointing to the use of chemical weapons by rebels in the Damascus suburbs, Russian news agencies quoted foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday.

Lavrov, who has said a report by UN investigators did not dispel Russia's suspicions that rebels were behind an August 21 poison gas attack, spoke after one of his deputies was given unspecified evidence by the government while visiting Syria.

"We will present all this in the UN security council, of course," Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying.

'UN report preconceived, political'

Russia denounced UN investigators' findings on a poison gas attack in Syria as preconceived and tainted by politics on Wednesday, stepping up its criticism of a report western nations said proved President Bashar al-Assad's forces were responsible.

Russia, which has veto power in the security council, could cite such doubts about proof of culpability in opposing future efforts by the United States, Britain and France to punish Syria for any violations of a deal to abandon chemical weapons.

"We are disappointed, to put it mildly, about the approach taken by the UN secretariat and the UN inspectors, who prepared the report selectively and incompletely," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state-run Russian news agency RIA in Damascus.

"Without receiving a full picture of what is happening here, it is impossible to call the nature of the conclusions reached by the UN experts ... anything but politicized, preconceived and one-sided," said Ryabkov, who met Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moualem late on Tuesday and Assad on Wednesday.

The report issued on Monday confirmed the nerve agent sarin was used in the August 21 attack but did not assign blame. Britain, France and the United States said it confirmed Syria's government, not rebels as Russia has suggested, was behind it.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday the investigation was incomplete without examination of evidence from other sources and that suspicions of chemical use after August 21 should also be investigated.

Ryabkov said Syrian authorities had given him alleged evidence of chemical weapons use by Assad's opponents.


Offline flowers

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Re: Russia to show 'evidence' of chemical weapons used by Syrian rebels
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2013, 05:26:01 pm »
This is foreign press, so the comment section a very interesting read.



Oceander

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Re: Russia to show 'evidence' of chemical weapons used by Syrian rebels
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2013, 04:28:07 am »
This is foreign press, so the comment section a very interesting read.



Quite interesting.  This was one of my favorites:
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Put Obama and Putin in Big Boss 7 and let them fight it out so that world can enjoy harmless one on one action in prime time.