Russia Denounces U.N. Chemical Report on Syria

[ProSense]

Russia Denounces U.N. Chemical Report on Syria

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and RICK GLADSTONE

MOSCOW — Russia sharply criticized the new United Nations report on Syria chemical arms use on Wednesday as biased and incomplete, hardening the Kremlin’s defense of the Syrian government even while pressing ahead with a plan to disarm its arsenal of the internationally banned weapons.

The Russians also escalated their critiques of Western governments’ interpretations of the United Nations report, which offered the first independent confirmation of a large chemical-weapons assault on Aug. 21 on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, that asphyxiated hundreds of civilians.

Although the report did not assign blame for that assault to one side or the other in Syria’s civil war, analyses of some of the evidence it presented point directly at elite military forces loyal to Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. The United States, Britain, France and human rights and nonproliferation groups also say that the report’s detailed annexes on the types of weapons used, the large volume of poison gas they carried, and their trajectories, all lead to the conclusion that the forces of Mr. Assad were culpable.

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The Russian position, despite evidence that others say is abundantly damning of Mr. Assad’s forces, appeared intended to sow enough doubt to call into question additional pressure on Syria’s government, and perhaps to cloud evidence that at least some of the country’s arsenal was of Soviet origin.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/19/world/middleeast/syria.html

Russian Banks Deny They Are Helping Syria's Assad
State-Controlled VTB Group and Vnesheconombank Reject Charges by Four U.S. Senators

By ALEXANDER KOLYANDR MOSCOW—Russia's state-controlled bank VTB Group and state development bank Vneshekonombank on Wednesday denied reports cited by four U.S. Senators that the two are helping the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In a letter Friday, U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte, Richard Blumenthal, John Cornyn and Jeanne Shaheen called on U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to crack down on "Russian banks that have repeatedly undermined American, European Union and United Nations sanctions by helping the Assad regime in Syria."

"According to numerous reports, banks such as VTB, Vneshekonombank and Gazprombank are carrying on 'business as usual' with Syria and have repeatedly undermined American, European Union, and United Nations sanctions," the senators wrote. They cited unspecified reports saying Veneshekonombank is facilitating Syrian payments for S-300 missile batteries, VTB is holding President Assad's personal funds and that Gazprombank is making payments for crude oil.

"VTB does not hold funds belonging to President Assad or any other member of the Syrian leadership," the bank said, adding that the allegations "are completely unfounded".

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323308504579083132444242554.html

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[Scurrilous]

2. Kick

[Cha]

3. Oh, my heart bleeds for assad and his pod buddy putin..