Reports that Damascus prevented OPCW from entering Syria are false – Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Damascus did not prevent the arrival of inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Douma. Information emerged that the Pentagon justified the US-led missile strikes on Syria before the OPCW’s conclusions also by “the fact that Damascus blocked” access of experts to Eastern Ghouta, Lavrov said Saturday. He noted that Russia had followed this situation, and the Syrian government was ready to issue visas immediately on the border without any additional formalities. When the experts came from Beirut, “they would have gotten visas on the border with Syria, it is officially confirmed, the OPCW knows this,” Lavrov said. If the OPCW knows, then the Americans know this too, the minister added.