Materials implicating the forces of Syrian president Bashar Assad in chemical weapons use near Damascus were prepared prior to the alleged incident on August 21, the Russian foreign ministry said.
Moscow continues to monitor closely the event surrounding the
“alleged” chemical attack near Damascus, Russian
Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, said in a
statement.
“We’re getting more new evidence that this criminal act was of a
provocative nature,” he stressed. “In particular, there
are reports circulating on the Internet, in particular that the
materials of the incident and accusations against government
troops had been posted for several hours before the so-called
attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action.” The Foreign
Ministry didn't elaborate what specific materials they refer to.
Below are the three videos posted on Youtube said to be showing
the child victims affected by chemical weapons near Damascus.
Despite the date of the alleged attack – August 21 – being
mentioned in their titles, they were posted on YouTube on the
previous day, August 20.
This could be explained by the 7-hour time difference
between Syria and the US, where the YouTube server is located.
The mismatch of the dates in the videos raised concerns
among some experts about the exact time of the upload.
The Damascus chemical attack accusations indicate the launch of
“another anti-Syrian propaganda wave” and, in this
context, the calls on the UN Security Council to immediately use
force in Syria “heard from some EU capitals” are
“unacceptable”, Lukashevich said.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Assad’s government has
demonstrated a “constructive approach” to the chemical
weapons issue by allowing UN experts into the country.
But it’s alarming that the “same signals” aren’t coming
from the Syrian opposition, which so far hasn’t displayed
willingness to ensure the safety and efficient operations of UN
investigators on the territory it controls, he said.
“This directly impedes the objective investigation of
allegations of possible cases of chemical weapons use in Syria,
which is called for by a number of countries and which the
Russian side supports,” Lukashevich noted.
The Russian foreign ministry “strongly appeals to those who
should put pressure on the opposition, making it take the
necessary steps in order to ensure the full realization of the
objectives of the international expert mission,” the
spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the UK has put the blame for the Damascus chemical
attack on Assad’s forces, saying it thought the Syrian government
had “something to hide.”
"I know that some people in the world would like to say that
this is some kind of conspiracy brought about by the opposition
in Syria,” William Hague, British Foreign Secretary, is cited
as saying by Reuters. “I think the chances of that are
vanishingly small and so we do believe that this is a chemical
attack by the Assad regime.”
The reports of a chemical weapons use in the suburbs of the
Ghouta region on the outskirts Damascus appeared in the
pro-opposition media on Wednesday, August 21, coinciding with the
arrival of the UN investigators to the Syrian capital.
The Islamist rebels claimed that over a 1,000 people, including
many children, were killed in the attack, with the government
saying that the accusations were fabricated in order to cover up
the opposition’s battle losses and undermine the work of the UN
mission.