[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russia urged member states of the global chemical weapons watchdog to vote on Thursday against funding a new team that will identify the culprits behind toxic attacks in Syria.
Moscow and its allies are trying to block next year’s budget for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons -- potentially leaving the entire agency unable to operate -- if it includes money for the new Identification and Investigations Team (IIT).
The United States hit back by accusing Russia of a "cover-up" of the use of chemical weapons by its ally Damascus, at a tense annual meeting of the OPCW’s 193 member countries in The Hague.
"If the financing for the IIT comes out of voluntary contributions (the annual budget paid for by member states) then this will mean one thing only," Russian ambassador Alexander Shulgin told the meeting.
"It will mean that the backers (of the IIT) are going to hire so-called Sherlocks looking at chemical crimes, they will be hired to draw up conclusions which suit the ends of the sponsors," Shulgin said.
"This is disquieting. Confirmation can be found in what’s happening surrounding Douma."
Russia and the West have already clashed repeatedly over allegations by two whistleblowers that the OPCW altered the conclusions of a probe that found chlorine was used in an attack in the Syrian town of Douma in April 2018. |