OPCW experts to reach Syria’s Douma on April 18 : Russian MoD

OPCW experts who have arrived in Syria to probe into a possible chemical attack in Douma plan to visit the site of the presumable incident on April 18, Igor Kirillov, the commander of Russia’s NBC defense forces, said on Monday after a meeting of the OPCW Executive Council.

He said the team of experts had arrived in Damascus at 19:00 local time on Saturday and had met with the Syrian side. In the first half of the day on Sunday, they discussed security aspects and work procedures and later spoke with two witnesses of the incident.

 On Monday, they met to discuss a route to reach Douma.

"The United Nations security service is to visit Douma tomorrow to conduct route reconnaissance and OPCW specialists are expected to reach the city on Wednesday," he said.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told journalists the OPCW experts were unable to reach Douma due to security considerations and condemned London’s attempts to blame Russian and Syria for hampering the experts’ visit.
[tass.com]
 17/4/18