News   /   Russia

Russia warns of Takfiri chemical attacks in Europe

Smoke rises from buildings in the area of Tal Sharba following clashes between government troops and Takfiri terrorists on the outskirts of the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 27, 2015. (AFP)

Russia has warned of the "clear and present threat" that Takfiri terrorists in Syria could launch chemicals attacks in Europe.

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin made the remarks on Wednesday following a closed-door United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the progress of investigations into chemical attacks in Syria.

"I have not heard anybody claim that they are concerned that the Syrian government may use chemical weapons in a subway in a European city -- all those things are happening with the terrorists," Churkin said.

The UN envoy noted that thousands of the Takfiris had relocated to Europe.

"Could some of them have brought with them components of chemical weapons? Could some of them have brought to a European city or European country their knowledge of how to build chemical weapons?" he asked.

During the UNSC meeting, Russia and China presented a draft resolution that calls on all countries, especially Syria’s neighbors, to monitor and report militant activities related to chemical weapons.

"Our hope is that if they know that we are monitoring their activities, the incentive to use chemical weapons in the hope that the responsibility for that can be shifted elsewhere... will diminish," he added.

A young man receives treatment at a hospital following a Daesh chemical attack in the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood of Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo on April 7, 2016. (RT)

Last year, the UN mandated a probe dubbed the Joint Investigative Mechanism after evidence emerged that Takfiri militants had used chlorine gas in attacks on three Syrian villages in 2014 which claimed the lives of at least 13 people.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injuring 1.9 million others, and displacing nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku