Commentary of the Department of Information and Press of the Foreign Ministry regarding investigation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria

We noted a lot of varied information aimed at placing responsibility on Damascus for the alleged chemical weapons use in Syria even though the results of the UN investigation have not yet been revealed. Thus, the way is being paved for military action against Damascus. Taking this into consideration we find it appropriate to share the main conclusions of the Russian analysis of samples taken at the site of the usage of chemical agents in the suburbs of Aleppo – Khan-al-Assal.
It is to be recalled that the tragedy, in which at least 26 civilians and Syrian army soldiers were killed and 86 more were injured, happened on March 19, 2013. Upon request of the Syrian government, the results of the sample analysis carried out by a Russian laboratory, certified by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, were conveyed to the UN Secretary General on July 9 after Syrian authorities had asked the latter to conduct an independent investigation of the aforementioned incident. The main findings of the Russian experts consist of the following:
-the shell used did not belong to the standard ammunition of the Syrian army and was man-crafted accordingly to the type and parameters of the rocket-propelled unguided missiles manufactured in the north of Syria by the so-called Bashair al-Nasr Brigade;
-for shell detonation RDX was used as the bursting charge, though it is not normally used in standard chemical munitions;
-soil and shell samples contain nerve agent Sarin produced in non-industrialized conditions as well as diisopropylfluorophosphate, which was used by Western states for chemical weapons during World War II.
The Russian report is very specific. It is almost a 100-page technical document with numerous tables and diagrams of spectral sample analysis.
We expect this report to aid substantially the UN investigation of the incident. Unfortunately the investigation has not de-facto even started.
Those who admittedly and always seek to place responsibility for the current events on the Syrian Arab Republic authorities has entirely switched attention to the events in Eastern Ghouta. There is also “stained selectivity”. There are apparent attempts to cast a veil over the incidents of gas poisoning of Syrian Army soldiers on August 22, 24 and 25 upon recovering equipment and containers with leftovers of Sarin in the suburb of the Syrian capital. It is known that the condition of injured soldiers was examined by the group of UN experts led by Oke Selstrem. It is obvious that any objective investigation of the August 21 incident in Eastern Ghouta is impossible without consideration of all these facts.
Taking above-mentioned into account, we welcome the announcement of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that Oke Selstrem’s group intends to return to Syria in the near future to continue the investigation, including in the Khan al-Assal region.