DISINFO: The West has undermined the OPCW for a long time
SUMMARY
Our Western partners have undermined the reputation of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a long time. It has been undermined by the constant scandals surrounding the fake reports of chemical provocations in Syria.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation attacking the independence and integrity of theOPCW.
The OPCW is an independent inter-governmental organisation. In March 2019, the OPCW confirmed in its report that chlorine was used in the attack on Douma on 7 April 2018. Allegations in the pro-Kremlin media of "staged" chemical attacks are a part of the ongoing campaign by Syria and Russia to smear the White Helmets as terrorists and war criminals. However, available evidence has yet to link a single chemical attack to any other party than the Syrian regime.
According to the OPCW's director-general, the organisation has beentargeted by a disinformation campaign when the organisation was being granted new powers to assign blame for chemical attacks. 18 countries issued a jointstatement, which called for an end to the unacceptable Russian defamation of the OPCW.
The OPCW's supposed complicity in "suppressing" the truth is a standard talking point in pro-Kremlin reporting on Syria. See our previous debunking of this narrativehere,here,here, andhere.
Read previous disinformation claims alleging that the chemical attacks in Syria have been staged and filmed by the media of the Western countries; that theNavalny poisoning could be a strategy of the West to introduce anti-Russian sanctions, thatRussia is accused of poisoning without proof; or that the White Helmets have close links to Al-Qaeda and falsify chemical attacks evidence.