Russian Mission to UN Presented New Draft Resolution on Syria Chemical Attack

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – The news comes as earlier in the day Russia blocked a draft resolution condemning the Syrian government for the alleged chemical attack in the country that was introduced by the UK, France and the US. The resolution asked the Syrian government to provide flight plans and logs of its military operations on the day of the incident and for the country to open its air bases to UN investigators.

"We have submitted a new draft," the mission official stated.

The new draft resolution would request on-site investigations from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said.

"The Russian document does contain a clear request to do this [OPCW investigation] in a way to leave no doubt about the fact that in order to prepare its conclusions all possible sources and means have been exhausted and most importantly there has been a visit to the place where the incident took place," Safronkov stated.

Russia has repeatedly called for an independent investigation of the incident, which it says resulted from a Syrian government airstrike on a terrorist chemical weapons storehouse. Russia's UN envoy urged all parties to cooperate with any independent international investigation launched by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Last week, Russia presented a draft resolution on the chemical attack in Syrian Idlib calling for a proper investigation into the incident.