Russia tells Syria Chemical Arms Threat Unacceptable

A woman receives a gas mask kit at a distribution point in a shopping mall in Mevasseret Zion, near Jerusalem on July 24. Photo by REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Russia has told the Syrian government clearly that it is unacceptable to threaten to use chemical weapons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday in its strongest condemnation of a recent warning by a Syrian official.

In a meeting with Syria’s ambassador to Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov “laid out in an extremely clear form Russia’s position on the inadmissibility of any threats of the use of chemical weapons”, he ministry said.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi acknowledged on Monday that country had chemical weapons, saying it would not use them to crush rebels but could use them against forces from outside Syria.

Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya