Russia claims body exposing Assad's chemical weapons crimes is 'dead'

Russia has been highly critical of the JIM's findings that the brutal Syrian government, its close ally, used chlorine gas in at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

23 November, 2017

The Syrian regime continuously denies chemical weapons usage despite consistent evidence proving otherwise [Anadolu]

Russia's UN ambassador has said the expert body that has determined responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria "is dead," but that Moscow is ready to discuss "a new mechanism".

Vassily Nebenzia told reporters after a closed Security Council discussion that the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) "has discredited itself completely".

"But we are ready to talk about establishing a new mechanism that would replace the JIM and do the work in ... a truly professional and objective way," he said.

Russia, a staunch backer of the brutal Damascus regime vetoed two council resolutions last week to keep the JIM in operation, and this week it rejected a Swedish-Uruguayan draft resolution before it went to a vote to revive the joint investigative body of the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

At the heart of the dispute is Russia's demand for major changes in the way the JIM operates, and the insistence of the US and about 10 other council members that its independence and operation remain unchanged.

Russia has been highly critical of the JIM's findings that the Syrian government, its close ally, used chlorine gas in at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015 and used the nerve agent sarin in an aerial attack on Khan Sheikhoun last April that killed about 100 people and affected about 200 others who survived.

The JIM also accused the Islamic State (IS) group of using mustard gas in 2015 and again in September 2016 in Um Hosh in Aleppo.

Despite the evidence presented, Syria has denied any use of chemical weapons.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley said after Nebenzia's second veto Friday that "Russia will not agree to any mechanism that might shine a spotlight on the use of chemical weapons by its ally, the Syrian regime".

Russia has accused the JIM of using faulty methods to determine that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's government was to blame for the attacks, including not visiting Khan Sheikhoun. Nebenzia called the JIM's Khan Sheikhoun probe "a fictitious investigation". The Syrian conflict began when the Baath regime, in power since 1963 and led by Assad, responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion fuelled by mass defections from the Syrian army. The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians have led to war crimes investigations.