Russia and US at odds over keeping Syria chemical experts
Russia said Tuesday it is talking to the United States about renewing the mandate of experts working to determine who was responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but the U.S. says Moscow won’t consider the American draft resolution.
Russia, which is Syria’s most important ally, has submitted a rival draft resolution on renewing the experts’ mandate to the Security Council.
With two days left before Thursday’s expiration of the mandate for the Joint Investigative Mechanism, known as the JIM, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told The Associated Press that “we are engaging with them. … We don’t know whether we can come to an agreement.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said late Monday that “Russia is mouthing words of support for JIM renewal, but those words are not backed up by any actions.”