NEW YORK, July 9 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations told reporters on Tuesday that Syrian rebels had likely used sarin nerve gas in a deadly attack near Aleppo in March.
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russian specialists had analyzed soil samples taken from the site of the reported chemical attack in Khan al-Asal, and determined that the nerve agent sarin was used and that it was not “industrially manufactured.”
Churkin said he had just handed that report over to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Sarin, a colorless, odorless gas that causes respiratory arrest and death, has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN.
Both sides in Syria’s more than two-year civil war have accused the other of using chemical weapons in recent months.
The United States has said it has evidence that Syrian government forces likely used sarin against rebels fighters.
Russia is widely regarded as an ally of Syria’s ruling regime.
Together with China, Russia has vetoed several Western-backed Security Council resolutions designed to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad to end the use of force in his country, where fighting between government forces and rebels has claimed nearly 100,000 lives since March 2011.
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