UN, Nov 2 Deputy Head of the Russian Delegation to the GA First Committee UN Konstantin Vorontsov urged the United States and its partners to provide the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) with data on alleged chemical facilities that caused attacks on Syria in 2017 and 2018.
«It is not surprising that the UK, the US and France , who are now shouting the loudest about some kind of Russian disinformation, under a false pretext, twice committed acts of aggression against Syria — in 2017 and 2018,» Vorontsov said.
«The targets of these missile strikes were allegedly some military-chemical facilities in Damascus. I would like to ask: when is it planned to declare these facilities to the OPCW? Or is the five years that have passed since 2017 not enough for you? Or do you think that during this time all already forgotten about everything, and your lies will get away with you?» — he added
He recommended that the «fighters against impunity» demonstrate their «ideals» in action. «Here, for example, why not fight US impunity for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a high-ranking official of a UN member state, during his diplomatic visit to another UN member state? The question, of course, is rhetorical,» the diplomat said. According to him, the only fight that the EU countries and other US allies are capable of is «the fight for the impunity of Washington against the backdrop of its illegal actions.»
In April 2017, the Syrian opposition claimed 80 victims of a chemical weapons attack in the city of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province and 200 wounded. She blamed the attack on the Syrian government forces, which in response strongly denied the accusations and blamed the militants and their patrons. The United States, without showing evidence of the guilt of the Syrian military and without heeding Russia's call for a thorough investigation, attacked the Syrian military base of Shayrat on the night of April 7.
The West also accused Damascus of a chemical attack on the Syrian city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, which allegedly took place on April 7, 2018, and threatened military strikes. As evidence of the chemical attack, the White Helmets organization used footage showing the «injured» residents of Duma, including children. Later, people appearing on the video reported that they did not see any attack. One of them said that unidentified people started a panic in the city, after which they tried to gather people in the hospital. There they were poured water over them without any explanation, and then they were released. The doctors working at the hospital at the time confirmed that there were no signs of chemical poisoning in the patients.