Neither Nerve Agents, Nor Any Banned Chemicals Found in Samples From Syria's Douma - OPCW

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FILE PHOTO. © John Thys / AFP

No traces of any nerve agents have been found at the site of a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma, an interim report issued by the OPCW says, adding that several chlorine compounds were detected.

“Various chlorinated organic chemicals were found in samples” from two locations in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which were examined by specialists from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an interim OPCW document said. The chemicals were found in two samples taken from canisters found in Douma, the report said. The report confirmed the absence of any traces of nerve agents, such as sarin, at the site.

Technical notes in the OPCW report specify that one of its laboratories found traces of dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, chloral hydrate, trichlorophenol and chlorophenol in some of the samples. Some of these chemicals, such as dichloroacetic acid and chloral hydrate, are known byproducts of water purification. Another OPCW laboratory only reported finding “no CWC-scheduled chemicals,” meaning nothing that was banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

A destroyed street in Douma in Eastern Ghouta on April 16, 2018 © Louai BesharaContainers with chlorine from Germany, smoke bombs from UK's Salisbury found in E. Ghouta – Moscow

The OPCW sent a fact-finding mission to Douma in April, around a week after the alleged incident. During the same month, Russia said that chlorine containers from Germany, which apparently belonged to militants, were found in the liberated parts of Douma.

Later, the Russian military found an entire laboratory operated by militants in central Douma, which was capable of producing chemical weapons. The lab had some sophisticated equipment, including an industrial chemical reactor, which was apparently used by the militants to create toxic agents. The footage, taken by Russian journalists inside the facility, also showed vast stockpiles of various chemicals, some of which were produced in Germany, as well as empty mortar shells that can be filled with poisonous substances.

The purported chemical incident in Douma allegedly took place on April 7. A week later, Washington and its allies launched a massive retaliatory missile strike against Syria, without waiting for the OPCW to start its investigation of the incident.

The OPCW report comes about a week after the OPCW was granted authority not only to investigate whether any alleged chemical attack took place, but also to assign blame for them. Moscow then warned that the move that actually drove a wedge between some key OPCW members  could lead to a situation, which the chemical watchdog would be used as a political tool.

Russia: Trace of Western-made Nerve Agent seen in UK Samples

The Proverbial Smoking Gun?

Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko arrives for a press conference at his residence in London, Friday, April 13, 2018. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press)

By Associated Press

MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow has received a document from a Swiss lab that analyzed the samples in the nerve agent poisoning of an ex-Russian spy, which points at a Western-designed nerve agent as a likely cause.

Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that Moscow received the confidential information from the laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland, that analyzed samples from the site of the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury.

He said the analysis was done at the request of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The OPCW’s report confirmed British findings that the Skripals were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent, but didn’t say who was responsible.

Britain has accused Russia of poisoning them with a Soviet-designed agent, an accusation that Moscow denies.

Lavrov said the document indicated that the samples from Salisbury contained BZ nerve agent and its precursor. He said BZ was part of chemical arsenals of the U.S., Britain and other NATO countries, while the Soviet Union and Russia never developed the agent.

Lavrov added that the Swiss lab also pointed at the presence of the nerve agent A234 in the samples, but added that the lab noted that its presence in the samples appeared strange, given the substance’s high volatility and the relatively long period between the poisoning and the sample-taking.

Do you smell that? Gunpowder, and it was burnt not very long ago! If we believe the UK, the Skripals were poisoned with a chemical made in Russia, then shipped to the UK, then shipped to Salisbury and painted on the door-knob of the Skripal residence. 

Somehow, the highly volatile A234 remained stable for the 5 weeks or so, plus the trip from Moscow to Salisbury. Or, possibly, it was added to the sample sent to the Swiss lab shortly before it was sent. That might explain how it could have survived for so long. Smell the burnt powder now?

I don't have any difficulty believing the UK, or NATO, or some Deep State agent was behind the poisoning; it makes at least as much sense as believing Putin did it. But the presence of A234 suggests very strongly that the OPCW is, at the very least, complicit in a conspiracy to blame Russia in a false flag operation.

Now, do we trust them with Douma? 

He noted that OPCW’s report didn’t contain any mention of BZ, adding that Russia will ask the chemical weapons watchdog for an explanation.

Britain said that the A234 agent belonged to the family of Soviet-designed nerve agents dubbed Novichok.

Yulia Skripal, 33, was released from the hospital this week. Her father remains hospitalized but British health officials say he is improving.