Russia’s U.N. ambassador says he has given the U.N. secretary-general 80 pages of 80 pages of photos, formulas and graphs that support Russia’s claim that Syrian rebels used chemical weapons outside Aleppo last March.
Back then, the Syrian government asked the United Nations to investigate its claim rebels used chemical weapons in the town of Khan al-Asal in Aleppo province. But the U.K. and France responded by accusing the Syrian government of using chemical weapons on at least three occasions.
The U.N. chief established a fact-finding mission, but Syria blocked its entry into the country, ostensibly because the government only wants the incident at Khan al-Asal investigated.
On Tuesday, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that Russian experts had taken samples at the site in Khan al-Asal and tested them in a Russian laboratory certified by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
“The results of the analysis clearly indicate that the ordnance used in Khan al-Asal was not industrially manufactured and was filled with sarin. The sarin technical specifications prove that it was not industrially manufactured either,” said Churkin.
Sarin is a potent nerve agent used in chemical weapons.