OPCW-UN Report: Conclusion Damascus Used Sarin Gas Fully Untenable - Moscow

On November 9, Head of the United Nations-Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) Edmond Mulet in an interview to The New York Times claimed that Russian diplomats warned him that Moscow was ready to reject the findings of the probe on the lethal chemical assault on the village of Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, before final conclusions were published, because Russia could not accept the research methods of the commission.

READ MORE: OPCW-UN Report: 'West Encouraging Syrian Terrorists to Get Chemical Weapons'

Moscow has never attempted to impose its conclusions on the investigation of chemical weapons attacks in Syria on the JIM, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the claims of the JIM head Edmond Mulet about Russia are unacceptable.  

"The selective approach and disdain for the OPCW standards played a dirty trick on Mulet" as the OPCW-UN report is marked by "a low level of professionalism, on the verge of dilettantism" and its conclusions about Damascus' alleged use of sarin nerve agent are "fully untenable," the ministry statement read.

According to the ministry's statement, the opinions of Russian experts were not taken into consideration during the investigation, though "they are indeed objective, because, unlike the JIM report, they are based on laws of physics, ballistics and technical analysis."

"If Mr. Mulet does not agree with them, he should present convincing and well-based objections, instead of engaging in innuendo in his contacts with press," the document pointed out.

The report, released by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), claimed that the Syrian Air Force had carried out the chemical attack against Khan Sheikhoun that killed around 100 people. Moreover, the report alleged that the sarin nerve gas used in the attack was drawn from stockpiles that the Syrian government had claimed had been destroyed as part of a 2013 deal with the US and Russia — a process the OPCW itself signed off on as having been completed that November.