UNITED NATIONS, December 4 (Sputnik) – Russia believes that the issue of Syrian chemical weapons should now only be dealt with at the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and should no longer be discussed at the UN Security Council, Russia's envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin has said.
"…too much discussion in the Security Council may even hurt because we are not experts and we should not be trying to intrude into the territory of other respected international institutions," Churkin said Wednesday after UN Special Adviser Sigrid Kaag gave a briefing on Syria chemical weapons at a closed-door session on the Security Council.
Churkin added that "Russia's position is that things have really moved to OPCW".
"All the matters that need to be dealt with are matters which are the responsibility of OPCW," Churkin said.
In August 2013, an unprecedented chemical attack which killed nearly 1,500 civilians took place in Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus. Militants and the Syrian government blamed each other for the attack.
Following a breakthrough deal, brokered by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry in September 2013, Syria agreed to place its chemical weapons under international control for further elimination. Damascus subsequently joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and handed over documents on its arsenal to the OPCW.
An OPCW-UN Joint Mission on the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons was established in October 2013.
