Russia and the West clash over vote to punish Syria for its weapons

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia clashed Tuesday with the United States and its allies over a vote later this month that could strip Syria of its right to vote in the international body of chemical weapons monitoring, with Moscow accusing the West of trying to “demonize Damascus” and the United States demanding a strong message to the Syrian government that the use of chemical weapons has consequences.

The exchanges took place during the monthly meeting of the UN Security Council on chemical weapons in Syria, during which UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu said Damascus' declaration on its chemical stocks and its chemical weapons production sites nearly eight years ago remained incomplete, with 19 questions outstanding.

Among these is a chemical weapons production facility that the Syrian government has said has never been used for such production, but where experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have found indications that a nerve agent had been produced or used as a weapon.

Nakamitsu also reported that site visits last September by OPCW experts revealed the presence of “unexpected” chemicals in samples. She said Syria had sent a note with “additional explanations” which were being analyzed.

In April 2020, OPCW investigators blamed three chemical attacks in 2017 on the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The OPCW Executive Council responded by demanding that Syria provide details. When this was not the case, France submitted a draft measure in November on behalf of 46 countries aimed at suspending Syria's “rights and privileges” at the global watchdog.

The issue will be discussed at the meeting of the OPCW's 193 member states which begins on April 20 at its headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.

Syria's Ambassador to the UN, Bassam Sabbagh, and Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitri Polyansky, reiterated Damascus' position which strongly opposes the use of chemical weapons and does not doesn't have one.

Polyansky accused the OPCW of violating the principle of consensus and creating “an illegitimate investigation and identification team” that made numerous mistakes in accusing Syria of using chemical weapons.

Polyansky said it was likely that “before the final big show” later this month, the OPCW team “will offer another surprise” and report “another pseudo-investigation with accusations against the Syrian authorities in its conclusions.

The Russian envoy called for a “no” vote on Syria's suspension. “If you deprive Syria of its right to participate in decisions taken within the organization, what is the point of Damascus continuing to work with it?” he asked.

Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in September 2013, under pressure from Russia after a deadly chemical weapons attack that the West blamed on Damascus. In August 2014, the Assad government declared that the destruction of its chemical weapons was complete, but its initial declaration of chemical stockpiles and production sites to the OPCW remained controversial.

Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the Security Council on Tuesday that the OPCW chief said “the 19 outstanding questions concern the fate of several hundred tonnes of chemical warfare agents and /or thousands of chemical munitions; indicators of three undeclared chemical warfare agents; and unknown, but potentially significant, quantities of chemical warfare agents.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said “the credibility of the Chemical Weapons Convention and this council itself is at stake” in the upcoming vote on Syria.

She accused Assad of trying to “avoid accountability by obstructing independent investigations” and of failing to cooperate with the OPCW. She said Russia is “spreading disinformation, attacking the integrity and professional work of the OPCW” and obstructing efforts to hold Syria accountable.

Thomas-Greenfield noted that the OPCW team evaluating the Syrian declaration recently “discovered that nerve weapons activity was taking place at another facility that the regime had declared as having never produced or handled weapons.” Chemical Weapons “.

She said member states should vote to suspend Syria and “send a strong message to the Assad regime that the use of chemical weapons is simply unacceptable and carries serious consequences.”

France's deputy ambassador to the UN, Nathalie Broadhurst, called for the suspension of voting rights in Syria “to reaffirm that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and that repeated violations of the convention cannot remain unanswered.