Russia questions report blaming Syrian govt for gas attacks
UNITED NATIONS -- Russia questioned on Tuesday a report by the United Nations and a global chemical weapons watchdog that blamed Syrian government forces for two chlorine gas attacks, saying the UN Security Council could not use the conclusions to impose sanctions.
The UN Security Council began talks on Tuesday on how to respond to the inquiry. When asked if he thought the report was enough to impose sanctions on Syria, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: "Frankly, I don't, but we continue to analyze the report."
"There are two cases that they suggest are the fault of the Syrian side; we have very serious questions," he told reporters after the council met behind closed doors to discuss the issue.
"The sorts of things we will be looking at are the imposition of a sanctions regime and some form of accountability within international legal mechanisms," said British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft on his way into the meeting.
"We need a resolution and we need a resolution with teeth," said French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre on Tuesday.
