A number of Western countries keep using the topic of chemical weapons to put pressure on the Syrian government, Russian Permanent Representative to the organization Vasily Nebenzya told at a UN Security Council meeting.
Earlier at the same meeting, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of Moscow of preventing Damascus from being held accountable for its alleged use of chemical weapons.
"Syria voluntarily, with Russia's encouragement, joined the OPCW, complied with the original declaration under the CWC and got rid of all stockpiles of chemical weapons. In 2014, the Syrian military chemical weapons program was completely shut down, chemical weapons stockpiles eliminated, and chemical weapons production facilities destroyed. The OPCW has repeatedly confirmed this," Nebenzya said.
He stressed that Syria has been cooperating fully with the OPCW ever since.
"Unfortunately, the hopes that all this would help to make the accusations of the use of chemical weapons against its population against the leadership of the SAR a thing of the past have not come true," he pointed out.
"All these years, a number of states continue to use the 'chemical map' as a tool to put pressure on the SAR government. Time after time they make extremely serious accusations against Damascus," the permanent representative said.
According to him, the Syrian chemical dossier has long been a tool for Western countries to punish unwanted authorities in Damascus. "Therefore, it is useless to look in it for any connection with the use or non-use of chemical weapons," Nebenzya said.
"The amount of evidence of direct manipulation, and internal irregularities in the OPCW secretariat itself has passed the critical mark," he concluded.
Russia and the Syrian government have repeatedly accused the OPCW of biased investigations into incidents in the Arab republic and questioned the conclusions reached by the OPCW technical secretariat. The Syrian authorities claimed that they had never used chemical weapons against civilians or terrorists, and that all of the country's chemical arsenal had been removed from Syria under OPCW control.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Zuma \ TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti