Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Remarks to the press by Ambassador Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, following the UNSC meeting on Syria

Q.:  What is your position regarding possible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government?

A.: We consider warnings of our Western partners of a possible use by the Syrian regime, as they call it, of chemical weapons as an invitation to the armed rebel groups to stage another chemical provocation as they did in Douma earlier in April or in Khan Sheikhoun to have a pretext for military strikes against Syria. We see these preparations, we see a military build-up and we strongly warned against it. I wish I was wrong and I prefer to be wrong, but we have data from reliable sources that these things are being prepared.

We said during the Security Council meeting and during consultations that followed that the Syrian government, given the strong warnings that it received, is the last to wish to stage any chemical attack because of the announced consequences. They are being threatened with military strikes by three major powers. Why would they be inviting a military strike upon themselves by an alleged chemical attack? Besides from the battlefield point of view these chemical attacks have no military significance at all.

Q.: Have you reached any reconciliation with the Western counterparts after the consultations to avoid such a conflict in the future?

A.: Look, Idleb is the last pocket in Syria where terrorists are mixed with a so-called moderate opposition. Task number one is to separate moderate from non-moderate opposition. It is a difficult one, of course. The protection of the civilian population is another very important task. The Russian authorities conduct very difficult talks with the opposition forces within Idleb to reach agreement.

Q.: If there is an attack by the Western three counties against Syria what would Russia do?

A.: First of all, we don’t want to hear or to know about any possible Western attack on Syria. It is apriori illegitimate. There is no Security Council decision on that, and they will never have one. And it will definitely affect the political process in the country. We hope, that we don’t even discuss it, that this won’t happen.