Time to close issue of completeness of Syrian chemical weapons declaration - Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. It is time to take the issue of verification of the completeness of the declaration submitted by Syria to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) off the table, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Mikhail Ulyanov has told TASS. "As a gesture of goodwill, Syria agreed to the OPCW mission to verify the completeness of its declaration regarding its former chemical weapons stockpiles," he noted. "Such verification was not envisaged by the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the Syrians were not obliged to do this. By their consent they demonstrate that they have nothing to hide and that they are ready to cooperate and answer questions." However, the more answers Syria gives the more questions emerge, and this process may be never-ending. "That was the case with Saddam Hussein, for example, who too expressed willingness to cooperate, but on the eve of the war he was asked to submit ‘a full, final and complete declaration," the diplomat went on to say. "He submitted heaps of papers, but that did not save him. No one read them except for us, and the Iraqis were told the next day that this was not enough. After all, the task of a number of countries was not to find out the truth but to punish Hussein. Later it turned out that there no grounds for accusing him of hiding weapons of mass destruction, but the invasion of Iraq had already begun." "As for Syria, the issue should be closed, and the sooner the better," he said. "Now the Syrians will present the history of their chemical weapons program. This is reminiscent of what happened to Iran in the context of the so-called dossier on Tehran’s alleged nuclear research with military dimensions." "There are things that are of interest to historians, and there are things that should be of interest to politicians," the diplomat said. "It is not so important what was going on in Iran or Syria 10 or 15 years ago. It is important to make sure that these countries do not have weapons of mass destruction today and tomorrow. And it’s better to leave the rest to historians." Ulyanov recalled that the Syrians under difficult conditions of civil war fulfilled their obligations to destroy stockpiles of chemical agents. To date, Syria destroyed 6 of 7 hangars where chemical weapons production facilities were located and all five underground bunkers. All chemical weapons were removed from the country and they were almost completely destroyed. A mere one percent is to be destroyed, but the Americans are unable to cope with this task because of technical problems. However, no one blames them for that, even though all agreed deadlines were broken through their fault. But they raised the hue and cry when the Syrians delayed something for at least one day under combat conditions. Read more