West blocks Russia-China initiative on stopping chemical attacks in Syria

Western countries are hampering the passage by the United Nations Security Council of a Russian-Chinese initiative geared to prevent the production and use of chemical weapons in Syria, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday.

He drew attention to the conclusions of specialists from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that militants in Syria used, most likely, yperite, a highly toxic gas. He said Russia is worried over the fact that terrorists seem to have learned to manufacture poisonous substances.

"It is regrettable that in conditions when it is necessary to immediately employ all available mechanisms to put a roadblock to the activities of chemical terrorists some of the United Nations Security Council’s Western members use trumped-up pretexts to block the Russian-Chinese initiative aimed at checking the threat of production of chemical weapons in Syria and around it by terrorists," the Russian diplomat said.

In April, Russia and China initiated a draft resolution of the United Nations Security Council that binds the countries to immediately report to the United Nations Security Council and the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) in Syria about any actions of non-government entities aimed at developing, obtaining, possessing, transporting, transferring or using chemical weapons and means of their delivery. Apart from that, the draft resolution tasks the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism with monitoring capacities to reveal persons, groups or governments involved in such activities.

A number of the United Nations Security Council members, including Venezuela and Angola, have supported this initiative whereas others, in particular Great Britain, said the Russian and Chinese initiative needed thorough consideration......More: http://tass.ru/en/politics/873898
5/5/16
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