France, Russia Achieve Tangible Results on Chemical Weapons' Issue in Syria

The French president said that France and Russia achieved concrete results on the issue of chemical weapons in Syria.

PARIS (Sputnik) — France and Russia have managed to jointly achieve concrete results on the issue of chemical weapons in Syria since the two countries' leaders met earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.

"I have to say that after [my] meeting [with Russian President Vladimir Putin] in Versailles, we achieved tangible results on the matter [of chemical weapons in Syria]," Macron said while addressing French ambassadors at the Elysee Palace.

The French president recalled the "red lines" made regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons and stressed that the main priority was to ensure that the use of such kind of weapons is stopped.

On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces announced that several dozen people had been killed in a suspected chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun in Syria's province of Idlib. 

France accused Damascus in the attack, adding that the gas was allegedly produced by the Syrian research center.

Syrian authorities refuted any involvement in the incident, saying that the complete elimination of the Syrian government's stockpile of chemical weapons was confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in January 2016. 

Russia, in its turn, urged to carry out "an open and transparent" investigation of the incident.