Russia’s delegate to the United Nations: “We object to closed discussions on Syrian chemical weapons at the Security Council”
Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, announced his country’s opposition to attempts to return to closed discussions in the UN Security Council on the chemical file of the Assad regime.
The Russian “TASS” news agency quoted Vasily Nebenzia as saying, “Britain, as President of the UN Security Council, will propose next February to return to discussing the chemical weapons file for Syria behind closed doors, but we will object to that.”
The delegate of Russia considered that “thanks to Russia, these sessions have become open,” expressing his surprise that the sessions are closed, and noting that “the international community must be aware of what is going on about the chemical file in Syria,” and that Moscow “will insist that the meeting be open. “.
The US Deputy Representative to the United Nations Richard Mills called on Russia and other defenders of the Assad regime to urge the Assad regime to recognize the use of chemical weapons, and stressed that the United States welcomes the reliable, objective and professional path that the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has followed.
Article 21 of Security Council Resolution 2118 states that everyone who uses chemical weapons is criminalized, in accordance with Article Seven of the United Nations Charter. This decision was issued after Eastern Ghouta and Muadamiyat al-Sham in Western Ghouta, Damascus, on August 21, 2013, were attacked with missiles carrying sarin gas and nerves. As a result, more than 1,450 people, most of them children, were killed.
On April 8, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons issued a report in which it held the Assad regime responsible for three chemical attacks targeting the city of Al-Lataminah on March 24, 25 and 30, 2017.
