(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Russia is now in the habit of coming to Damascus' rescue no matter how overwhelming evidence against it is.
This time, Moscow vetoed a US-drafted resolution that would have extended by one year the mandate of the joint UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons panel that was expected to release a report on a sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun on Thursday.
The panel, known as the joint investigative mechanism, was set up in 2015 by Russia and the US with the aim of identifying the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria's six-year war. Its mandate was renewed last year and a decision on its further renewal was to be taken by November 17.
The nerve gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun killed over 87 people. In September, UN war crimes investigators said they had evidence that the Syrian air force was responsible for the attack, a claim Damascus repeatedly denies.
Russia insists that the sarin attack was most likely caused by a bomb on the ground, not by a Syrian air strike, as alleged by the West.
The Monday veto, says Russia, does not mean that the investigation was shut down, only that Moscow would seek to amend the panel's mandate to ensure it is impartial.
Britain, France and the US accused Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces of carrying out the April 4 attack on the opposition-held village.
The Russian foreign ministry issued a statement saying that it had the right to study the upcoming report before making an assessment and accused the US of trying to 'impose its position'.
Ten members voted for the resolution, Russia and Bolivia against, China, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained.
The Russian ambassador to the UN Security Council defended his delegation's veto, its ninth, questioning the draft's value and calling, anew, for an open-ended independent investigation in which his country would have a say.
Damascus disputes all the evidence gathered by the UN and claims innocence while rejecting outright unfettered access to the UN investigative machinery to all its sites.
Moscow continued rejection of any UN resolution faulting Damascus is eroding its credibility and trustworthiness as a fair player in the international arena.
When there is an overwhelming consensus that Damascus used chemical weapons, not once but many times over, coming to its defence is not a worthy or credible posture befitting a superpower.
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