The history of staged chemical attacks in Syria is not over yet, and Russia is worried that such provocations may occur again, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia has said in an interview with Sputnik
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th February, 2020) The history of staged chemical attacks in Syria is not over yet, and Russia is worried that such provocations may occur again, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia has said in an interview with Sputnik.
"Unfortunately, the history of chemical provocations in Syria is still not a closed page, and of course, we are afraid that something like this could happen again," Nebenzia said.
In late January, Maj. Gen. Yuri Borenkov, the commander of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Syrian Reconciliation, said that militants and White Helmets were preparing a new provocation in the Idlib de-escalation zone that would be used to accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons against civilians.
Borenkov added that members of the organization arrived in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces under the protection of militants from the Hayat Tahrir Ash-Sham terrorist group (formerly Nusra Front, banned in Russia), delivering containers reportedly filled with gaseous chlorine.
The international community in 2018 was quick to condemn Syria after footage was released, purportedly showing people poisoned by a chemical attack in Douma, near Damascus. The Syrian government denied carrying out the attack, calling into question the authenticity of the footage. Russia repeatedly raised serious concerns with the work ethic and length of the investigation.
As the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has launched its probe into the alleged attack in Doumaand, it issued in March its final report on the investigation, saying that chlorine was "most likely" the chemical agent used in the incident, but stopped short of apportioning blame.
