The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, April 21, issued a statement in which it strongly condemned the resolution on the limitation of the rights and privileges of the Arab republic, adopted on Wednesday in The Hague by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The document was published by the SANA agency.
“The United States, Great Britain and France used blackmail, threats and pressure to obtain approval of this political decision hostile to Damascus by the participants of the 25th Conference of the States Parties to the OPCW,” the text says.
The statement emphasizes that the resolution was approved “in violation of the OPCW Charter and contrary to the principle of consensus in decision-making since its inception in 1997”.
The SAR foreign ministry paid particular attention to the fact that “the states that prepared and submitted the draft document are the same parties that supported, financed and armed terrorists in Syria.”
Earlier that day, it became known that the OPCW adopted a resolution according to which Syria will not have the right to vote at the conferences of the participating States and in the executive council of the organization, as well as be elected to its composition. In addition, a number of other restrictions were also introduced against the republic. The reason is the alleged use of chemical weapons by Damascus.
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin, said that the previously adopted resolution on limiting the rights and privileges of Syria in the organization suggests that the structure has turned into a political instrument. At the same time, he stressed that “sooner or later the truth about the events in Syria will come out.”
A day earlier, Shulgin said that the accusations against Syria of the use of chemical weapons, which are put forward by a number of countries in the organization, are far-fetched, and the United States and its allies are trying to pursue their own selfish goals.
Russia called on all delegations to the UN Security Council and the OPCW not to support the initiative to deprive Syria of a number of rights in the organization.
On April 8, 2020, the OPCW published a report on the investigation of chemical attacks in Syria in 2017. According to the findings of the investigation team, the Syrian Air Force carried out airstrikes in the province of Hama, in which Al-Latamnah is located, using shells with chemical weapons. The next day, the Syrian Foreign Ministry called this report fabricated, the purpose of which was to distort the facts and accuse the Syrian authorities.