18/09/2013 18:14
Syrian 'proof' of rebel chemical use
Syria has given Russia "material evidence" that rebels carried out a chemical attack on 21 August, Russia's deputy foreign minister has said, according to the BBC.
Sergei Ryabkov, on a visit to Syria, said a UN report on the incident was politicised and one-sided.
The UN team found the nerve agent sarin was used in the attack in Damascus.
The US blamed government forces for the attack, which sparked diplomacy that culminated in a deal for Syria to hand over its chemical arsenal by mid-2014.
Damascus has repeatedly accused opposition forces of carrying out the assault in eastern Damascus, in which hundreds were killed.
The UN report, by chief investigator Ake Sellstrom, did not apportion blame for the attack.
Mr Sellstrom told the BBC he believed that the task of finding and destroying Syria's chemical stockpile would be "stressful work", but was "doable."
In an interview with Russian media, Mr Ryabkov said the government of President Bashar al-Assad had given him new evidence that rebel forces had used chemical weapons.
"Just now we were given evidence. We need to analyse it," he said, without giving any details.
Mr Ryabkov criticised the UN report, saying it was "distorted" and "one-sided."
"The basis of information upon which it is built is not sufficient, and in any case we would need to learn and know more on what happened beyond and above that incident of 21 August," he said.
"We are disappointed, to put it mildly, about the approach taken by the UN secretariat and the UN inspectors, who prepared the report selectively and incompletely."
In response to Mr Ryabkov's comments, Mr Sellstrom told the BBC he thought Russia was not criticising the report itself but the process, which he described a political matter and therefore not his remit.
"What I think - as I interpret it - is that there are other allegations by the Syrian government which have to be looked into," Mr Sellstrom said.