Russia said a visit by chemical weapons inspectors to the site of a suspected gas attack in Syria's Douma today had been delayed as a result of Western air strikes. The British delegation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Russia and Syria had not yet allowed access.
But Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said: 'We consider such accusations against Russia to be groundless,' adding that Moscow was in favour of 'an impartial investigation'.
The British delegation said in a statement posted on Twitter: 'Unfettered access [is] essential. Russia and Syria must cooperate.'
Britain's ambassador to the OPCW also said Russian assertions about why a team of inspectors had so far been unable to reach Douma were incorrect.
Russian officials have said that the inspectors were unable to reach Douma because they had not been cleared by the United Nations and because of US-led strikes carried out on targets in Syria on Saturday prevented them.
But Ambassador Peter Wilson said at a news conference in The Hague that the United Nations had cleared the inspectors to go, and they had been unable to reach Douma because Syria and Russia had been unable to guarantee their safety.
Earlier, Russia vowed not to interfere in the work of a fact-finding mission sent to Syria by OPWC.
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Clearly stalling, so they can cover up the evidence