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Sergei Lavrov

MOSCOW/BEIJING. – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday slammed Western countries for suggesting the Syrian government carried out a chemical attack earlier this month, without offering convincing proof to back up these claims. “Any reports about the use of chemical weapons in Syria must be investigated most thoroughly and professionally, and the results presented to the UN Security Council,” Lavrov said at a Press conference in Moscow.

“Participants of the G8 summit who renege on this agreement are de-facto trying to take on the functions of both the investigators and the Security Council,” Lavrov said. Russia failed to resolve its differences over Syria with its partners – including the US, France and Britain – at the G8 summit in June.

Officials in the US and France were cited as saying that Assad’s government was behind the chemical attack that killed 355 in Syria last Wednesday. US President Barack Obama said previously that the US would intervene in the Syrian conflict in the event of a chemical attack. British media reported the country’s forces are already preparing for a joint naval operation with the US against Assad’s forces.

“Washington, London and Paris have officially stated they have irrefutable proof that the Syrian authorities are guilty (of the chemical attack), but they cannot present this proof,” Lavrov said Friday.

The incident gave an advantage to those who want to trigger foreign military action against Assad’s regime, Lavrov said, though he added it was up to the UN to establish the real perpetrators. “Was it really in the interests of the Syrian government to use chemical weapons right when the (UN) inspectors are working there?” Lavrov said.

Earlier, Lavrov had said military intervention in Syria would be a “most brazen violation of international legislation” if held without the UN’s backing.

“Paris and London are both calling for the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria even without approval from the UN Security Council. This is a very dangerous, slippery slope,” Lavrov told journalists in Moscow.

Britain and France, as well as the US and Turkey, have said they are considering an attack on the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which they accuse of using chemical weapons against the rebels it has been fighting since 2011. Assad denies the accusations and blamed the gas attack on the insurgents. The crisis can only be resolved through political reconciliation, Lavrov said.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said yesterday that China supports the UN Secretariat in the investigation of reported use of chemical weapons in Syria. – RIA Novosti/Xinhua.