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Region: Middle East
Type: News
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On February 6, RIAC members held a round table discussion at the International Multimedia Center "Rossiya Segodnya " under the framework of «Chemical weapons in Syria: Russia's position and the new US accusations» the format allowed for a contextual review of both internal Syrian and international reactions, political postures and a set of technical conditions around the use of chemical weapons.

On February 6, RIAC held a round table discussion at the International Multimedia Center "Rossiya Segodnya" under the framework of "Chemical weapons in Syria: Russia's position and the new US accusations" the format allowed for a contextual review of both internal Syrian and international reactions, political postures and a set of technical conditions around the use of chemical weapons.

Participants discussed biased nature of western investigations, which they described as politically motivated, yet with a lack of direction. "It seems to me that Trump does not have a policy in Syria, that is, there is no strategy, no vision of the Syrian problem. What we see today on the part of the US is the inertia of Obama's approach.” — Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian Council for International Affairs stated.

Further conclusions included the outcomes of US actions as not a part of a comprehensive Foreign Policy, but as a combination of interests within Trump’s administration "Of course, the military is one of the most significant sources of personnel for the Trump administration, we see that the military is playing a major role in Syria ... But, of course, it is not the military's business to develop a political strategy, and here I see great problems for the US potential opponents and for American supporters alike" the expert said.

Andrey Kortunov concluded on the importance of Russia’s efforts to mediate with nations with shared interests and capitalize opportunities “we should work more actively with the European Union because the European Union, unlike the US, is very interested in stabilizing the situation due to the influx of refugees and geographic proximity to the Eastern Mediterranean. Is necessary to go on ways to expand the coalition of interested countries the leading EU members”.

The event was held with the participation of:

— Evgeny Buzhinsky; General-Lieutenant (ret.) Chairman of the Board of the PIR Center, Vice President of RIAC

— Alexey Kondratiev; member of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security

— Andrey Kortunov; Director General of the Russian Council for international Affairs

— Anton Utkin; a chemical weapons expert and former UN inspector for Iraq

Video (In Russian)

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