Russia Defends Claim on Chemical Weapons Use by Syrian Rebels

[Purveyor]

MOSCOW, July 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that the evidence indicating the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian opposition had been analyzed by Russian experts in line with strict international standards.

Russia has submitted to the United Nations a comprehensive study of soil samples taken from the site of a reported chemical attack by Syrian opposition forces outside the northern city of Aleppo in March. The study determined that the nerve agent sarin was used and that it was not “industrially manufactured.”

“We have handed over a full package of documents, over 80 pages, including photos and certain lists of geographical locations, procedures and results,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

“We guarantee that the samples were taken by experts who did not lose sight of these samples until they delivered them to the laboratory,” he said, adding that the study the study was carried out completely in line with the criteria of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130710/182168675/Russia-Defends-Claim-on-Chemical-Weapons-Use-by-Syrian-Rebels.html

[Igel]

1. So they're also claiming chain of custody.

Nice.

However, since nobody is on the record has having seen the actual use--apart from people with at least an entire armory of axes to grind--it's still not on as sure footing as you'd like.

Then again, the opposition's claim has that minor drawback + chain of custody.

Of course, we do have the crucia detail that Assad is considered to be lying demon-spawn unable to speak a worth truthfully and able to fabricate mountains of false evidence with a single flick of his pitchfork, while the opposition are considered to be enlighted Sufi masters to whom falsehood is as alien as the taste of human flesh. I'm surprised any cynics even wanted to have the opposition's sarin samples tested.

A pox on both their houses.