Statement by Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Federation Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on the Syrian Chemical File (resolution 2118)
Mr. President,
We thank Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Adedeji Ebo for his briefing.
The 131st monthly report of the OPCW Technical Secretariat Progress in the Elimination of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Programme is yet another clear example of the bias of this structure. Once again, we have to reiterate that in terms of content, the reports by the Director General of this organization are unbalanced, they replicate the same accusations against the Syrians and are catered to the sole purpose of creating the impression that the only reason why the dialogue between the OPCW and the SAR is stalled is the "uncooperativeness" and "bad faith" of the Syrian side. Thus, the completely far-fetched and unrelated to the reporting period problem of issuing a visa to one of the members of the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) is something that has been inappropriately blown out of proportion by the Technical Secretariat. This situation was resolved exclusively owing to the efforts and goodwill of Damascus, but this fact is being deliberately glossed over.
The paragraphs regarding the plans for holding the 28th round of consultations between the DAT and the Syrian authorities look completely absurd and unprofessional. The SAR leadership welcomed the organization of the consultations and expressed its willingness to continue the discussion to agree on the necessary modalities, including the dates that would suit both parties. In this regard, we can hardly understand why three whole paragraphs of the report are devoted to this purely technical detail. It seems that the only goal is to bring shame on Syria.
At the same time, no one bothered to mention the fact that, despite the infringement of its rights and privileges under the CWC, Damascus continues in good faith to cooperate with the OPCW and comply with its obligations under the Convention. Syria is providing all necessary assistance to the inspections carried out by representatives of the Organization. If you don't want to notice that, I would like to remind you that the recent ten years saw 150 technical meetings and 45 visits to facilities; during this period there were tested 180 samples, and Damascus provided 350 documents to examine. I think that our Syrian colleagues will tell us today what they have done, so that the Council can have a more objective understanding of what is happening. The reports of the Director General still don't enable us to that.
Moreover, it is important not to forget that cooperation with the DAT is part of the voluntary bilateral commitments that Syria has taken on. The mandate of the DAT does not include any “investigative” activities. It has the sole task to assist the Syrians in preparing its initial declaration.
In this regard, it is surprising that the report deliberately stresses the fact that the DAT has put forward two new technical issues to Syria because they discovered the traces of a number of listed chemicals. At the same time, this fact is presented in such a way as if they had found chemical weapons stockpiles.
We consider the decision of the Technical Secretariat to add these two new issues to be unjustified. Obviously, there was no need to rush into including these issues in the list of "unresolved" – the Secretariat could have waited for additional clarifications from Damascus. Our experts are convinced that most of the remaining unresolved issues can theoretically be closed down. It is necessary to take into account that there can be some difficulties in providing sufficient material and/or documentary evidence for objective reasons (e.g. hostilities on the territory of the SAR, the time frames of probable suspicious activity, the accelerated procedure for the destruction of the Syrian chemical program, etc.).
It is not surprising, though. We have repeatedly asked in this Chamber why the approach towards Syria differs from that towards other countries that may face similar problems but unlike Damascus have never been criticized. We'have provided specific examples to that effect. But we never got an answer.
We regret that the report did not reflect the fact that three of the previous issues have been closed down this year, thanks to Damascus's engagement with the DAT. For our part, we welcome the progress made in eliminating Syrian chemical weapons and dismantling facilities inteded for their production and storage. Likewise, we welcome the resumption of consultations between the Syrian national authorities and the DAT, and the decision to extend the trilateral agreement between Syria, the OPCW and the UN Office for Project Services until the end of the year. Denying the progress made would mean railing against the truth. However, judging from the way the western members of the Council present this issue, it becomes clear that any progress regarding the Syrian chemical file is something like "a bone in the throat" for them, and they are doing nothing but ignore it.
In this respect, I would like to remind our colleagues who claim that Damascus is concealing its alleged chemical weapons stockpiles that they have still not provided either the UN Security Council or the OPCW with any information on certain Syrian facilities intended for production or stockpiling chemical weapons. And it was these facilities that western countries attacked in April 2018, acting in violation of the UN Charter, which per se is a gross violation of Resolution 2118.
Such a politicized presentation has only one purpose - to mislead the Council and to play along with Damascus's foes in their attempt to keep the Syrian chemical file "afloat" indefinitely. The price for such actions is the overwhelming politicization of the OPCW. As a result, what is happening is the undermining of the chemical weapons prohibition regime as a whole and of the Organization's ability to respond to the real challenges facing the international community in the field of chemical weapons and non-proliferation of chemical weapons. We urge our Western colleagues to consider whether their pettiness and vindictiveness towards the Syrian Government, which has defeated terrorism, are worth such consequences for international cooperation in this area.
Thank you for your attention.
