The Syrian regime has handed Russia new materials
implicating rebels in a chemical attack outside Damascus on August 21,
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov says.
"The
corresponding materials were handed to the Russian side," Mr Ryabkov was
quoted as saying by Russian news agencies after talks with Syrian
foreign minister Walid al-Muallem late on Tuesday.
"We were told that they were evidence that the rebels are implicated in the chemical attack."
Mr Ryabkov said Russia would "examine the Syrian materials implicating the rebels with the utmost seriousness."
To
the fury of the West, Russia has repeatedly expressed suspicion that
the chemical attack was a "provocation" staged by the rebels with the
aim of attracting Western military intervention in the conflict.
Mr Ryabkov also said Russia was disappointed with the UN report into the chemical weapons attack published this week, saying it was selective and had ignored other episodes.
"Without
a full picture... we cannot describe the character of the conclusions
as anything other than politicised, biased and one-sided," he said.
Russia is refusing to back a UN Security Council resolution
that threatens "serious consequences" against the Syrian regime if it
does not adhere to the deal to eradicate its chemical weapons.
Mr
Ryabkov is on a visit to Damascus to present the Syrian regime with the
results of the agreement between Moscow and Washington reached in Geneva
at the weekend to rid Syria of its chemical weapons.
He said he
emphasised to Mr Muallem the importance of the Syrian side "strictly and
swiftly" handing over details of its chemical weapons arsenal to the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the first step in
the agreement.
The Russia-US agreement is aimed at warding off the
threat of US-led military action as retribution for the chemical
attack, which the West blames squarely on the regime.
The Syrian
ambassador to Moscow, Riyad Haddad, told the Interfax news agency that
Mr Ryabkov was expected to have a meeting on Wednesday with Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad.
Mr Ryabkov said he assured the Syrian
side that there was "no basis" for a UN Security Council resolution on
the chemical weapons agreement to invoke Chapter VII of the UN Charter
that allows the use of force and tough sanctions.
He said this
could only be considered if the UN Security Council was able to confirm
violations of the convention on chemical weapons.
"This is a hypothetical situation," he said.
"It
is especially important that some kind of political interests do not
again appear, especially in New York (at the UN Security Council)," he
added.
AFP
