MOSCOW. May 10 (Interfax) - Moscow is calling for the soonest possible dispatching of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Fact-Finding Mission in Syria (OPCW FFM) specialists to Khan Sheikhun and the Syrian airbase Shayrat, where chemical munitions with sarin had allegedly been stored, in order to carry out a professional and impartial investigation at the scene and is supporting this organization's intention to send experts to Syria.
"The achievement of this objective is possible only with all the procedures stipulated by the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons being observed. We support the intention officially voiced by OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu to ensure the dispatching of FFM experts to Syria in interaction with the relevant UN agencies," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary to the reports delivered by the OPCW FFM and the Human Rights Watch international human rights organization.
Russia assumes that experts will visit both Khan Sheikhun and Shayrat. "This would completely comply with clause 12 of the Mission's mandate [competence] adopted by the Organization," it said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reminded that the FFM report dealing with the chemical weapons incident, which has occurred in the Marat Umm-Hosh populated locality, Syrian governorate Aleppo, on September 16, 2016, has been issued the other day.
"We provided assistance to the Syrian side in compliance with paragraph 6, Article X of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (CPCW), in particular, the specialists of our forces of radiation, chemical and biological protection have handed the samples taken at the site of this incident, documental and material evidence over to Damascus authorized representatives. Then, in December 2016, all this has been presented to the FFM experts, and, last January, these materials and samples with Italy's assistance have been delivered to The Hague for examination in the OPCW," the Foreign Ministry said.
"The conclusion we have drawn together with Syrian colleagues that sulfur mustard gas has been used by terrorists in the populated locality of Marat Umm-Hosh, was completely confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. We state it with pleasure," the ministry said.
"Now we assume that all the materials available to the FFM in Syria will be handed over to the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), which will consequently begin their thorough study in compliance with its mandate. Concrete culprits should be uncovered in the aforementioned chemical incident, as well as those, who are behind them, possibly, directing their activity from the outside of Syria," the Foreign Ministry said.
"We are speaking about it also to again remind of correct methods of international structures' work in similar situations. It is regretful that our foreign colleagues, including officials from France and the United Kingdom, as well as functionaries of such an influential human rights organization as Human Rights Watch, are acting absolutely in another way. It took just a few days for them to come to a categorical conclusion that Damascus has allegedly been proved liable for applying, as claimed, air bombs filled with sarin in the populated locality of Khan Sheikhun, Idlib governorate," the ministry said.
The United States has carried out a missile strike on the Shayrat airfield in Syria on April 7. The target of the missile strike has been an airfield, from which, as the American authorities believe, a chemical attack has been delivered on Khan Sheikhun, which resulted in numerous casualties.