UNITED NATIONS, (PNA/Itar-Tass) — The Chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21 could have been avoided, had the use of toxic agents near Aleppo on March 19 been promptly investigated, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin stated on Tuesday at the first meeting of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly.
“The tragedy in Ghouta could have been avoided if the use of chemical weapons in Aleppo on March 19 had been promptly investigated,” he said, stressing that the Syrian request to the UN on the incident investigation was “strongly supported” by the Russian Federation.
The diplomat said that “the organisation of such an investigation then ran into manipulations by a number of states “that attempted to ‘divert’ the UN attention from it and focus in on other “dubious cases.”