MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, Russia vetoed a US, UK, France-proposed resolution on the investigation into the Idlib chemical attack.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the US-UK-France-backed draft resolution on the chemical weapons in Syria is based on fake reports mosty from the White Helmets and the SOHR "which cannot be called reliable."
"We regret that Western politicians, realizing… the inevitability of the Russian veto on their draft, all the more after the unlawful attack [on a Syrian airbase], still… put the draft [resolution] to the vote, forcing us to use the veto," Ryabkov said.
Moscow hopes that the executive council of the OPCW will exercise a more reasonable approach in analysing Russia’s suggestions on the investigation of the suspected chemical attack in Idlib than the UN Security Council "show," he added.
"We shall see whether the current session of the OPCW executive council will lead to some more sensible and different results unlike yesterday’s show which was put up by our colleagues from the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the Security Council," Ryabkov said.
Syrian opposition claimed on April 4 forces loyal to President Bashar Assad had used a chemical gas on people in the northwestern province, killing nearly 80 and injuring 200. Assad argued his government has no chemical weapons after agreeing to have them destroyed in 2013. He also ruled out having used chemicals against own people.
The Russian Defense Ministry said next day that the airstrike near Khan Shaykhun was carried out by Syrian aircraft, which struck a terrorist warehouse that stored chemical weapons slated for delivery to Iraq.