Syrian Foreign Minister, Russian Envoy Condemn Politicization of OPCW - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Syrian Foreign Minister Faysal Mikdad and Russian Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin condemned politicization of the organization, which is initiated by the West, at a meeting in Damascus, Syria's state-run news agency reported.

During the meeting, the two officials discussed the work of the organization, condemned West's efforts to raise false allegations to distort the image of Russia and Syria in the organization, the news agency said on Sunday.

Mikdad reaffirmed Syria's commitment to the non-use of chemical weapons, while thanking Moscow for supporting Damascus in the OPCW, the report also said.

Cooperation between the countries in the OPCW helps prevent Western countries from imposing their view on a number of issues discussed in the organization, Shulgin said at the meeting.

After the largest gas attack in August 2013 in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. This was the result of an agreement between Russia and the United States on the destruction of chemical weapons in the country under the control of the OPCW and stopped the US military intervention in Syria. Chemical weapons stockpiles were successfully removed from Syria; in January 2016, the OPCW announced the complete elimination of the country's chemical arsenal.

Russia and the Syrian government have repeatedly accused the OPCW of bias in its investigations into incidents in the Arab Republic and questioned the conclusions drawn by the technical secretariat. The Syrian authorities stated that they never used chemical weapons against civilians and terrorists, and the entire chemical arsenal of the country was removed from Syria under the auspices of the OPCW.