Russia Demands UNSC Meeting Over Skripal Affair - Washington and London Refuse
Russia has demanded to hold an open UNSC meeting on the Skripal case. It was announced by Russia's EU envoy, Vasily Nebenzya. He emphasized that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, and the crime must be punished. To this end, a thorough investigation must be pursued, instead of hiding and altering facts, like the UK does, especially since there's still no answer from the OPCW. Under the pressure from London and Washington, they denied the motion from Moscow and Beijing, as well as Tehran over Skripal case investigation.
European Vesti.FM correspondent, Regina Sevostyanova reports from the Hague.
The press conference with the reps of the Russian delegation has finished in the Russian Embassy in the Hague. The Executive Committee session finished at about the same time without any outcome documents. The sides failed to agree upon any final phrasing so there are virtually no official results.
However, 14 member-States of the OPCW are known to have agreed with Russia that the investigation must be pursued in compliance with international law, says Aleksandr Shulgin, Russian permanent representative to the OPCW. He stressed that the Iranian permanent representative had stated it at the beginning of the session. Eventually, he was followed by other permanent representatives.
Later, Russia announced its plan drafted together with China and Iran to resolve the current situation. To be more specific, they suggested creating a bilateral Russia-UK commission comprising experts from both sides. The suggested mediator in this complicated situation would be the OPCW Director.
However, the proposal wasn't supported by the majority of the OPCW reps. Still, 23 out of 41 countries did not support the UK's position. Aleksandr Shulgin sees it as a breakthrough, the masks are coming off. Secondly, this only confirms that the UK isn't interested in official investigation results.
Aleksandr Shulgin, the Russian permanent representative to the OPCW: "A blunt conclusion suggests itself: they're afraid of the truth, afraid to stand by their words, to answer for the groundless accusations they've brought against Russia, for their provocative statements".
Russians even provided scientific proof of their position. The delegation came with 2 Dr. habils. By the way, the director of the Russian Ministry of Defense laboratory said why exactly the UK failed to determine where the gas allegedly used to poison Sergey and Yulia Skripal came from.
Igor Rybalchenko, the director of the Russian Ministry of Defense lab: "There's almost no doubt that multiple global labs could have conducted this synthesis, producing this substance in needed quantities. Unfortunately, the latest methods and equipment can hardly determine the origins of the substance, that is, the country and the lab it was synthesized in".
It's been said many times that Russia didn't just fulfill its duties to eliminate chemical weapons, but did it ahead of schedule. This is why the Russian delegation is not giving up, they will continue fighting for the truth. The UNSC meeting that is to be held upon Russia's initiative is another step in that process.
Regina Sevostyanova, Vesti FM, The Hague, the Netherlands.