Russia ready for consultations with US on investigation into alleged chemical attack in Syria - diplomat

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Russia is ready to hold consultations with the United States before a vote in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on proposals regarding the investigation into alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria’s Khan Shaykhun, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Mikhail Ulyanov said. "Before putting a draft up for vote, all possibilities for reaching a consensus should be exhausted," Ulyanov said at a special session of the OPCW’s Executive Council in The Hague on Wednesday, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. "We are ready for immediate intensive consultations for that purpose, including with the US delegation," he said. "If our US partners are indeed interested in establishing the truth by carrying out a serious and prompt investigation, we have chances to reach an agreement," the diplomat said. "If not, there is almost no room to search for mutually acceptable solutions." Russia’s envoy to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin, earlier told TASS that Moscow would submit its proposal to the organization on the investigation into alleged use of toxic agents in Khan Shaykhun. Moscow insists that the investigation should be carried out at the scene - in Khan Shaykhun and the Shayrat airbase in the Homs province, which was hit by the US missile strike - and not be limited to the Internet materials and questioning of opposition members, while the composition of the investigative team should be balanced. The incident in Syria’s Khan Shaykhun, where chemical weapons were allegedly used, occurred on April 4. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on that day Syrian aircraft hit workshops where terrorists were producing munitions containing chemical agents. Washington accused Damascus of using chemical weapons. Following an order by US President Donald Trump, the US military fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from its warships in the Mediterranean at an air base located in Syria’s Homs Governorate in the early hours of April 7. The missile strike targeted what Washington claimed was the source of the chemical attack. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the US missile strike as an act of aggression against a sovereign state. Read more