MOSCOW. Nov 17 (Interfax) - Moscow stands ready for further consultations on resuming the work of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism for chemical incidents in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
"All responsibility for the termination of the JIV's work rests with Washington and the UN Security Council member states that supported it," the ministry said.
"Russia stands ready for consultations to overcome the current situation," it said.
"We presume that the resumption of the operations of the institution investigating instances of chemical weapons use in Syria would be justified and even necessary only if proper lessons are drawn from the negative record of the Mechanism's work and if it is significantly reinforced," it said.
The decision by the U.S. and some other UN Security Council member-states to block a Bolivia-led Russian-Chinese draft resolution on extending the JIV mandate shows that "the loud calls by U.S. representatives in the UN to extend the mandate were absolutely hypocritical."
"Washington is looking not for the JIV's extension and reinforcement but its preservation in the current shape as a tool to attain national goals on the Syrian track of its foreign policy," the ministry said.
"The blocked draft was aimed at eliminating fundamental flaws in the JIV's work and bringing its activity more fully into line with the high standards of the Chemical Weapons Convention," it said.
"The implementation of the measures envisioned by this document would made this institution truly independent, impartial, and highly professional, which it has obviously lacked until present," it said.
"Among other things, the draft envisaged an instruction to the UN secretary-general to submit practical recommendations on the Mechanism's reinforcement to the Security Council for consideration. This prospect was categorically unacceptable to the U.S. and a number of its Western allies," the ministry said.