Putin: What about Nuclear ’Israel’....Every Grounds to Believe Syria Chemical Attack A Rebel Provocation

Local Editor

The Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed Thursday that his country has every reason to believe that the use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb in August was an adroit and smart provocation.

"We have every grounds to believe that it was a provocation. Of course, it was adroit and smart, but, at the same time, primitive in terms of technical performance. They took an old Soviet-made missile, which was taken out of service in the Syrian army long ago. It was most important to have ‘made in the USSR' written [on the missile]," Putin said at the Valday discussion forum on Thursday.

He further pointed out that the August 21st attack in Damascus was not the first time chemical weapons had been used in Syria.
"But why haven't other cases been investigated?" he asked, calling for a thorough investigation in the chemical weapon attack.
"No matter how difficult it might be, but if in the end we manage to answer the question... as to who committed that crime - and that was certainly a crime - the next step will follow. Then, together with our colleagues from the United Nations Security Council we will have to define the level of responsibility of those who committed the crime," Putin said.

The head of the Russian Republic highlighted that the chemical attack was set up by the armed groups to appear as if it was carried out byt he regime.
He argued that this was done in a "primitive" way because the attack used an outdated type of shell made in the Soviet Union that the Syrian army no longer uses.

Putin warned Washington against supporting the armed forces, saying it would have to deal with the consequences of helping al-Qaeda fighters.
"You will help them take power, and then what? Will you swat them away with a newspaper?" he wondered.
He also stressed that Syria had developed its chemical weapons as a counterweight to the Zionist entity, which is widely believed to be nuclear-armed.
"Chemical weapons appeared in Syria as an alternative to the nuclear weapons of Israel, we know this very well," Putin said.

"The technical advantage of "Israel" - we need to say this directly- is such that it doesn't need nuclear weapons. Israel is already in a technical military sense several heads above the countries in the region," he said.
"Nuclear weapons just make it a target. They just create foreign policy problems."
He stressed that measures like military strikes cannot solve every international issue, while should also be brought to the UNSC rather than discussed in the US Congress.

"This would be a strike on the world order, not Syria," the Russian leader said, and pointed out that "no 100% guarantees, but Syria makes practical steps."
Putin also said that he cannot be 100 percent certain that the Syrian government will completely fulfill earlier reached agreements on dismantling the republic's chemical weapons. However, the latest developments have given signs for hope.
"Will it be possible to accomplish it all? I cannot be 100 percent sure about it. But everything we have seen so far gives us confidence that this will be done," he told journalists and experts.

Speaking at the Valday gathering, Putin noted that Syria not only agreed to sign the international convention, but announced it already considers itself a party to the treaty.
"These are practical steps that the Syrian government has already made," Putin said.
The United Nations confirmed last Saturday that it had received all the necessary documents from Syria for joining the chemical weapons convention and that Syria would become a member from October 14.

He said that any attempt to interfere in the conflict by supporting one of the sides would bring imbalance. When the crisis began over two years ago, it immediately started getting support from abroad, he said.
"How did terrorist groups like al-Nusra appear there? Even the State Department admits that al-Qaeda's branches are fighting [in Syria]," Putin observed.
For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed that Russia has no current plans to destroy the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile on its own territory under the deal reached between Moscow and Washington in Geneva.

"A decision needs to be taken on this," Shoigu told the Interfax agency when he commented on the matter. "We have factories for the destruction of chemical weapons, but there is a big difference between 'ready' and 'willing' to."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team