The report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) on chemical incidents in the Syrian Al-Lataminah is actually an invasion of the competence of the UN Security Council, the statement of the Russian permanent mission to the UN in connection with the publication of the document on April 8 reads.
"We declare the illegality of decisions on the establishment of the OPCW IIT and its funding from the organization's regular budget. Such decisions were taken in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The activities of this quasi-Prosecutor's structure, whose staff is dominated by representatives of Western countries, encroach on the exclusive powers of the UN Security Council and are aimed at solving odious political tasks to discredit the legally elected authorities of Syria," the report says, in particular.
The Russian side, as noted, does not intend to cooperate with the IIT or finance its activities, since the materials and evidence for the report were collected remotely, mainly from groups opposed to the Syrian government, and information from official Damascus about chemical crimes of the opposition was simply ignored.
In its report of April 8, the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) blamed the Syrian authorities for the use of chemical weapons in March 2017. The Russian permanent mission to the OPCW stated that the report is flawed and is not credible.
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