UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Earlier on Wednesday 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.
"This strike [by the United States against Syria] was carried out in violation of international norms and without the security council sanction," Safronkov stated. "Accepting the western Troika draft would have meant legitimizing this activity, which from the viewpoint of international law and common sense is something that’s completely unacceptable."
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.