Russia’s UN Mission Slams US for Killing UN Draft Resolution on Syrian Chemical Attacks

Russia’s Permanent Mission to the UN said on Twitter that the US has killed the Russian-drafted resolution stipulating the setup of a new mechanism to look into the chemical weapons incidents in Syria.

Russia’s mission to the United Nations on Wednesday lashed back at the United States for claiming it killed UN’s Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) that probed the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria, TASS reported.

"US [mission to] UN deliberately omits that they came last to kill our UNSC resolution to extend and reincarnate JIM to make it independent, objective and professional," the Russian mission reacted on Twitter.

The US mission to the United Nation said in a statement on Wednesday that "US will fund $350k for the International, Impartial & Independent Mechanism on crimes committed in Syria. IIIM will help accountability efforts for Assad regime atrocities, [including chemical] weapons use – more important than ever since Russia killed the Joint Investigative Mechanism".

Russia called a United Nations Security Council meeting, putting forward an initiative to establish an independent mechanism to look into the chemical weapons attacks in Syria. It would also involve the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and would replace the JIM that ceased to exist in late 2017 as UN Security Council member states had failed to agree on extending its mandate. However, Washington came out against this initiative.

The JIM was created by the UN Security Council’s decision in August 2015 in order to establish who had been behind the chemical weapons incidents. The commission presented a total of seven reports saying that Syrian authorities had been involved in four chemical weapons incidents. Russia has repeatedly criticized the JIM over its incompetence.
 (FNA)
 1/2/18
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