Lavrov: Russia’s chemical disarmament confirmed by OPCW

Russia's chemical disarmament has been confirmed by the OPCW, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, commenting on the new round of U.S. sanctions over the Skripal case.

"Three years ago, based on the results of all conceivable inspections we we’ve received confirmation, within the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) framework, that the process of chemical disarmament by Russia has been completed," the  Russian foreign minister said.

Lavrov stressed that the U.S. had to complete its chemical disarmament "within roughly the same timeframe as us." "But they again asked for a reschedule – this time now until early 2020s. So, we should rather be speaking about problems with chemical disarmament in the US," the minister noted.

"We didn’t close our facilities to the inspectors. They visited everything they wanted to visit and came to the conclusion, which I just mentioned," RT cited the top diplomat as saying.

The minister reiterated that Russia rejected the U.S. accusations, saying that “anybody, who is at least slightly familiar with the so-called ‘Skripal case’, understands the absurdity of the statement [on Moscow being guilty] contained in the State Department’s official paper," Lavrov said.