The United States on Tuesday accused Russia of ignoring the facts surrounding a poison gas attack in Syria, highlighting tensions between the West and Moscow over how to eliminate the country’s chemical weapons.
Despite a weekend agreement between the Cold War rivals aimed at dismantling Syria’s chemical arsenal by mid-next year, the two sides remain poles apart in their assessment of the August 21 gas attack which left hundreds dead.
Russia insists the attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta was a “provocation” by opponents fighting Syria President Bashar al-Assad’s regime designed to trigger military strikes by the United States.
The United States and France maintain the attack was carried out by Syrian government forces, and believe an assessment by UN experts released on Monday backed their view.
On Tuesday, after meeting French counterpart Laurent Fabius in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Moscow’s allegation that the August 21 attack was carried out by Syrian rebels.