Russia says no proof Assad was behind chemical attack

[ProSense]

Russia says no proof Assad was behind chemical attack

By Alissa de Carbonnel

(Reuters) - Russia and France disagreed radically on Tuesday over a report by U.N. investigators into a chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people in Syria, highlighting the problems agreeing on action at the United Nations Security Council.

Sitting beside French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at a news conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the report had produced no proof that President Bashar al-Assad's troops carried out the August 21 attack and that Russia still suspected rebels forces were behind it.

Fabius took the opposite view, saying the report left no doubt that Assad's forces were to blame for the attack which Washington says killed more than 1,400 people. The United States has also blamed Syrian government forces.

Lavrov acknowledged that the investigators' report proved that chemical weapons had been used but that "there is no answer to a number of questions we have asked," including whether the weapons were produced in a factory or home-made.

- more -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/17/us-syria-crisis-russia-idUSBRE98G0G620130917

Expected. Why would Russia want to admit that its rockets were used in the attacks?

U.N. Report: Chemical Weapons Use In Syria Confirmed, Details Point To Assad
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023677868

[The Magistrate]

1. Old Habits Die Hard, Ma'am

[ProSense]

3. Yup.

Breaking: Assad agrees to give up chemical arsenal he denied having and using.

Russia's posture is to save Assad's ass.

[Daniel537]

2. "Soviets deny nukes in Cuba"

Yeah, i think i'll rely on anyone other than the Russian govt. on these types of things.

[Junkdrawer]

4. Russia is still Soviet....

the things you learn on DU.

Or maybe you're saying that Russians are congenital liars?

[Daniel537]

5. Comrade Vlad is a big admirer of Stalin

and has been doing his best to rehabilitate the image of the old Soviet Empire. He has already brought back some of its more famous attributes such as imprisoning dissidents, repressing minorities and murdering journalists. So if you still want to defend that, or believe his intentions are noble, by all means knock yourself out.

[sharp_stick]

6. KGB Agent

Vladamir V. Putin is in charge, as long as that POS is running things Russia is pretty much still Soviet.

[karynnj]

7. Putin was an officer in the Soviet Union's KGB

- not a random Russian person.