Russia to Question IAEA on Syria Nuclear Risks

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED September 09, 2013

Russia will raise the issue of nuclear risks involved in a possible US strike on Syria at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors next Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

A day before, the ministry urged the IAEA secretariat to urgently analyze such risks.

Western intervention in Syria could jeopardize the region’s nuclear security, the ministry said in a statement, adding that any damage caused to a neutron reactor near Damascus would have disastrous consequences.

The IAEA told RIA Novosti that it would consider Russia’s risk-analysis initiative as soon as an official request arrives. On Thursday, a diplomatic source in Vienna told RIA that Moscow would soon send an official request to the agency.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Wednesday to give President Barack Obama the authority to use military force against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack last month.

A US intelligence report claims that the Assad regime was behind a chemical weapons attack near Damascus on August 21 that Washington says left more than 1,400 people dead.

The UN Security Council has so far not authorized any military intervention in the Syrian crisis. Russia has urged all parties in the conflict to use diplomatic means to resolve it.

Topics: Security, Asia, Russia, IAEA

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