US: Russia ignoring facts on Syria

The United States claims Russia is “swimming against the tide” by ignoring what it refers to as “facts” about the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The US and its allies have blamed the Syrian government for a chemical attack near Damascus on August 21. Russia, however, maintains that the foreign-backed militants staged the attack to incriminate President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow believes the incident was a “provocation.”
Russia offered a proposal to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international supervision in order to avoid US military strikes.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Lavrov agreed on the deal on Saturday and Damascus immediately accepted the plan.
On Tuesday, Lavrov stressed that the resolution that the United Nations Security Council will adopt on Syria will not refer to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter that regulates the use of military force.
He said: “The resolution of the Security Council, which will approve the decision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) executive council, will not be over Chapter 7. We said it distinctly in Geneva and the document that we agreed on says no single word about it.”
The Russian minister added that the resolution would control the implementation of decisions taken by the OPCW.