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UN / SALISBURY NERVE AGENT
STORY: UN / SALISBURY NERVE AGENT
TRT: 02 :30
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 03 APRIL 2018, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
03 APRIL 2018, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“A number of questions beg to be asked. If we speak very cynically, why did we have to wait for eight years and decided to do this two weeks before presidential elections in Russia and just a few weeks before the World Cup? Why was he even released from the country? Why eliminate the individual through this strange, dangerous and highly public method?”
4. Med shot, British Ambassador
5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“The idea is to put in question the political legitimacy of Russia in principle, at the same time, to discredit our position in the Syrian chemical dossier. So basically, the idea is to kill two birds with one stone.”
6. Med shot, British, Swedish and Russian ambassadors
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Karen Pierce, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“Only a court can finally determine culpability. So, the use of the phrase ‘highly likely’ is a reflection of our judicial process and should not be construed as casting doubt whatsoever on the likelihood of Russia being responsible.”
8. Med shot, Russian Ambassador
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Karen Pierce, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“We have had innumerable theories from the Russians. I think we have counted some 24 in all. On the 21st of March, for example, the Russian foreign ministry said they believed terrorists did it. On the 14th of March Mr. Lavrov said the British response was aimed at distracting from Brexit. Mr. President the use of chemical weapons on any country’s territory is far too serious for these theories to hold water.”
10. Med shot, Russian Ambassador
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Karen Pierce, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“Everything we have done, Mr. President, has been consistent with the Convention on Chemical Weapons. And if I may say so, Mr. President, I wouldn’t take any lectures on morality or on our responsibilities under such international conventions from a country that as this Council debated yesterday has done so much to block the proper investigation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.”
12. Med shot, Russian Ambassador
13. Wide shot, Council
During a Security Council debate convened by the Russian Federation today (5 Apr), its Ambassador, Vassily A. Nebenzia, questioned allegations that it was responsible for the poisoning by a military-grade nerve agent of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England.
Nebenzia said, “a number of questions beg to be asked. If we speak very cynically, why did we have to wait for eight years and decided to do this two weeks before presidential elections in Russia and just a few weeks before the World Cup? Why was he even released from the country? Why eliminate the individual through this strange, dangerous and highly public method?”
Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, was convicted of high treason in Russia and settled in the United Kingdom in 2010 following a spy swap.
Nebenzia said “the idea is to put in question the political legitimacy of Russia in principle, at the same time, to discredit our position in the Syrian chemical dossier. So basically, the idea is to kill two birds with one stone.”
The UK’s Ambassador, Karen Pierce, told the Council that “only a court can finally determine culpability,” adding the use of the phrase ‘highly likely’ by the British government “should not be construed as casting doubt whatsoever on the likelihood of Russia being responsible.”
Pierce said “we have had innumerable theories from the Russians. I think we have counted some 24 in all. On the 21st of March, for example, the Russian foreign ministry said they believed terrorists did it. On the 14th of March Mr. Lavrov said the British response was aimed at distracting from Brexit. Mr. President the use of chemical weapons on any country’s territory is far too serious for these theories to hold water.”
The Ambassador said the British government’s actions have been “consistent with the Convention on Chemical Weapons” and added, “I wouldn’t take any lectures on morality or on our responsibilities under such international conventions from a country that as this Council debated yesterday has done so much to block the proper investigation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.”
Sergei Skripal remains in critical condition, while his daughter Yulia has regained consciousness and is recovering.
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