Chemical weapons inspectors arrive in Syrian gas attack town ahead of tomorrow's site visit, amid fears Moscow has already 'tampered' with evidence

  • US has accused the Kremlin of blocking international inspectors from attack site
  • Inspectors have now arrived in the town ahead of a planned site visit tomorrow 
  • US Ambassador Kenneth Ward said Russians may have 'tampered' with evidence
  • Moscow denied charge and blamed delays on retaliatory US-led missile strikes 
  • Allies Syria and Russia deny unleashing poison during their Douma offensive

Chemical Weapons inspectors have arrived in the Syrian town of Douma ahead of tomorrow's visit to the scene of a poison attack that left dozens dead. 

The US has accused the Kremlin of blocking international experts from reaching the scene of the poison attack - and suggested Russians may already have tampered with evidence on the ground.

Moscow denied the charge and blamed delays on retaliatory US-led missile strikes on Syria at the weekend.

Syrian state media says experts from the global watchdog the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons entered Douma today ahead of a planned visit to the site on Wednesday.

Allies Syria and Russia deny unleashing poison gas on April 7 during their offensive on Douma, which ended with the recapture of the town that had been the last rebel stronghold near the capital Damascus.  

Footage of young victims foaming at the mouth and weeping in agony thrust Syria's civil war - in which half a million people have been killed in the past seven years - to the forefront of world concern again

Chemical weapons inspectors will be given access to the Syria gas attack site tomorrow, Russia has said- 11 days after more than 40 people were killed in the atrocity. Pictured: A child receiving oxygen through respirators following the Douma attack

One source told Reuters the advance team had 'encountered a security issue' including gunfire which led to the delay, but could not provide additional details. Pictured: Douma yesterday

The US has accused the Kremlin of blocking international experts from reaching the scene of the poison attack in Douma (pictured today) - and suggested Russians or Syrians may already have tampered with evidence on the ground'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (pictured) denied that Moscow had interfered with any evidence

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (pictured) denied that Moscow had interfered with any evidence

Relief organisations say dozens of men, women and children were killed. Footage of young victims foaming at the mouth and weeping in agony has thrust Syria's civil war - in which half a million people have been killed in the past seven years - to the forefront of world concern again.

Inspectors from the Hague-based OPCW travelled to Syria last week to inspect the site, but have yet to gain access to Douma, which is now under government control after the rebels withdrew.

There are hopes they may be able to reach the site on Wednesday - 11 days after the atrocity.

But US Ambassador Kenneth Ward said at an OPCW meeting in The Hague on Monday that it was his understanding that 'the Russians may have visited the attack site.'

He added: 'It is our concern that they may have tampered with it with the intent of thwarting the efforts of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission to conduct an effective investigation.' 

A girl carries a baby through the ruins of Douma yesterday as inspectors prepared to visit the town

A girl carries a baby through the ruins of Douma today as inspectors prepare to visit the town

Civilians are pictured walking through the ruins of the town yesterday. It has been almost completely destroyed 

Syrian state media says experts from the global watchdog the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons entered Douma today ahead of a planned visit to the site on Wednesday. Civilians are pictured walking through the ruins of the town today

The British delegation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Russia and Syria had not yet allowed access. Pictured: UN vehicles carrying Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrive at the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus on April 14

The British delegation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Russia and Syria had not yet allowed access. Pictured: UN vehicles carrying Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrive at the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus on April 14

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied that Moscow had interfered with any evidence. 'I can guarantee that Russia has not tampered with the site,' he told the BBC. 

It comes after Lavrov told the BBC relations between Russia and the West are worse than during the Cold War.

Mr Lavrov denied any chemical weapons had been used in Douma, arguing that evidence produced by the UK, France and the US 'was based on media reports and social media'.

The event did not take place, he told the BBC's Hardtalk programme. 'What did take place was a staged thing.'

Britain's delegation to the OPCW accused Russia and the Assad government of stopping inspectors from reaching Douma. 'Unfettered access is essential,' it said in a statement. 'Russia and Syria must cooperate.'

The team aims to collect samples, interview witnesses and document evidence to determine whether banned toxic munitions were used, although it is not permitted to assign blame for the attack.

British Ambassador Peter Wilson said in The Hague that the United Nations had cleared the inspectors to go but they had been unable to reach Douma because Syria and Russia had been unable to guarantee their safety.

Moscow blamed the delay on the air strikes, in which the United States, France and Britain targeted what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities.

'We called for an objective investigation. This was at the very beginning after this information (of the attack) appeared. Therefore allegations of this towards Russia are groundless,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

A child evacuated from Douma receives preventive medicine upon arrival in Al-Bab district, Aleppo

A child evacuated from Douma receives preventive medicine upon arrival in Al-Bab district, Aleppo

An image released by the White Helmets shows a toddler in a nappy being given oxygen after the attack in Syria 

An image released by the White Helmets shows a toddler in a nappy being given oxygen after the attack in Syria 

Syrian government forces wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members as they are evacuated from the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on April 14

Syrian government forces wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members as they are evacuated from the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma on April 14

A Russian defense ministry official later said the OPCW experts would travel to Douma on Wednesday.

Russia's defence ministry said the United States and its allies had hit military targets and not just research facilities, Interfax news agency reported.

The RIA news agency quoted the ministry as saying the Syrian military destroyed 71 out of 103 cruise missiles detected in Syrian airspace.

The inspectors met Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in the presence of Russian officers and a senior Syrian security official in Damascus for about three hours on Sunday.

OPCW inspectors have been attacked on two previous missions to the sites of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. 

The British delegation to the OPCW said Russia and Syria had not 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'.

'This is the latest conjecture of our British colleagues,' Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by RIA news agency.

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.

Earlier, Russia vowed not to interfere in the work of a fact-finding mission sent to Syria by OPWC.

'Russia confirms its commitment to ensure safe [sic] and security of the mission and will not interfere in its work,' the Russian embassy in The Hague said in a tweet.

The OPCW has 192 members, and Monday's governing executive council meeting of 41 states was called by its chairman, Bangladeshi ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal, 'to discuss the alleged use of chemical weapons' in Syria.

Syrian flags flew in Douma on Monday, security forces stood on street corners and Russian military police patrolled the streets. State aid trucks handed out bread, rice and pasta to people who had lived under siege for years.

A government-organised media tour did not include the building where, according to rescue workers and medics who were in town at the time, dozens of people were killed by poison gas.

A young child is treated by specialists after being taken to Aleppo in the wake of the gas attack on Douma 

A young child is treated by specialists after being taken to Aleppo in the wake of the gas attack on Douma 

Doctors at the hospital where suspected victims were treated told reporters on the tour that none of the patients that night had suffered chemical weapons injuries -- they were asphyxiated by dust and smoke in a bombardment.

Medical aid groups and the White Helmets rescue organisation have said such statements - already aired on state television in recent days - were made under duress.

The U.S.-led strikes did nothing to alter the strategic balance or dent Assad's supremacy and the Western allies have said the aim was to prevent the further use of chemical weapons, not to intervene in the civil war or topple Assad.

At a meeting in Luxembourg, the 28 EU foreign ministers endorsed the missile strikes and considered steps to deepen Assad's isolation.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said on Sunday the United States would announce new economic sanctions aimed at companies dealing with equipment related to Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons, though the White House said on Monday that no decision had been taken yet.

'We are considering additional sanctions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future,' the White House's Sanders said.  

The comments below have not been moderated.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.