RUSSIAN JOURNALIST GAVE UNITED NATIONS EVIDENCE OF SYRIAN REBEL USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Apparently the evidence, which was presented at the UN by Anastasia Popova in a press conference, consists of videos of the rebels using the weapons, eyewitness accounts and reports from doctors.

Russian journalists who were on assignment in Syria have handed the United Nation Secretariat videos showing chemical weapons attacks allegedly committed by opposition fighters in the vicinity of Aleppo on March 19. This was confirmed by the spokesman for the Deputy Secretary General Farhan Haq.

He said that the information will be passed along to Oke Selstemu, the head of the group of experts investigating the possible use of weapons of mass destruction in Syria.

In late March, Damascus notified the UN Secretariat of the chemical attacks carried out by armed insurgents.

In a report RTR journalist Anastasia Popova confirms the use of toxic substances, apart from footage of the event, there are eyewitness accounts, reports from doctors who took care of the dead and injured and statements from experts from the University of Aleppo.

In response to the formal request by Damascus UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent a special mission to the area. However, the Syrian government has not let a team of experts into the country after the Secretariat of the United Nations decided to investigate other reports of the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Voice of Russia, TASS, RIA

[source : Russian journalists have proof Syrian insurgents used chemical weapons, Voice of Russia, http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_05_24/Russian-journalists-have-proof-Syrian-insurgents-used-chemical-weapons-089/, 24th May 2013]