Duma Speaker: US knew beforehand about combat use of chemicals weapons in Syria

U.S. officials knew beforehand that chemical weapons would be used in Syria someday; apparently they had this knowledge at the moment they marked out the red line’, Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of Russia’s State Duma said Tuesday as he was addressing a plenary session in the lower house. He sized up the U.S. Congress refusal to receive a delegation of Russian MPs for talks on Syria as “an admission of weakness of the Americans’ position.” “A statement was made in the U.S. several weeks ago saying combat utilization of chemical weapons would delimitate the red line after crossing which the U.S. would use weapons against Syria,” Naryshkin recalled. “I have a strong feeling that the decision-makers in Washington knew very clearly at the very same moment that chemical weapons would be used in Syria inevitably,” he said. Naryshkin said the position on the conflict in Syria taken by the U.S. “proves that the observance of fundamental norms of international law is neither a priority nor an imperative for Washington.” “Still this observance means much for us, for our partners, and for everyone who respects the principle of sovereignty and who is making all the necessary steps to support international security,” Naryshkin said. He promised that Russian MPs would collaborate with counterparts from other parliaments of the world towards tapping a peaceful solution to the Syrian problem. Earlier in the day, Naryshkin issued an instruction to the Duma foreign policy committee says that “the statement should be drafted as a priority document with account of the encouraging shifts that have emerged in the past few hours, largely thanks to Russia’s principled proposal to place the chemical weapons found in Syria under international control.” Foreign policy committee chairman, Dr. Alexei Pushkov said Monday a statement on Syria may be issued as early as Wednesday, September 11.