US Department of State: Russia ‘ultimately responsible’ for chemical weapons use in Syria
Russia is ‘ultimately responsible’ for the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the Unites States said on Thursday responding to a report that chlorine was likely used as a chemical weapon during an incident in Saraqib, Syria, last February,
On Tuesday, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Fact-Finding Mission released a report which ‘determined that chlorine, released from cylinders through mechanical impact, was likely used as a chemical weapon’ on Feb. 4 in the Al Talil neighborhood of Saraqib.
The attack ‘bears all the hallmarks of similar past chemical weapons attacks by the Assad regime against its own people,’ State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement released by the department.
“The Syrian regime’s offensive around Saraqib was also marked by its characteristic brutality and disregard for civilian lives.”
While the OPCW report does not attribute responsibility for an attack, Russia has vetoed the renewal of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, the only impartial and independent body with the mandate for attributing responsibility, at the UN Security Council five times, Nauert noted.
“For seven long years there has been no let-up in the atrocities committed by the Assad regime, enabled by its backers, Russia and Iran, in flagrant violation of international law,” she said. “The suffering that has been inflicted on the Syrian people by the Assad regime and its Iranian and Russian backers is abhorrent. Russia, which promised the world in 2013 that it would guarantee the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stocks, is ultimately responsible for their continued use there.”
As part of US determination to hold those who use chemical weapons accountable, senior officials from more than 30 nations will gather in Paris on Friday for a Ministerial Meeting of the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, Nauert said.
The ministerial will address recent chemical weapons use by states and non-state actors, in addition to actions the partnership can take to contribute to the deterrence of future use and attribution in cases where use has occurred, she said
In turn, Russia denies its being involved in the chemical attacks. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the proofs amassed by the OPCW are baseless.
