Too Late?

Russia to Finally Allow Inspectors Into Syria Chemical-Attack Site

Kremlin accused of tampering with site.

Russia will allow chemical-weapons experts to inspect the site of a suspected attack in Syria on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. voiced fears the inspection had been delayed to allow Russia and Syria to tamper with evidence of the attack. Russia and the Syrian regime were accused by Western diplomats of attempting to stall the inspection by claiming the officials didn’t have the appropriate permissions from the U.N. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s radiological, biological, and chemical protection unit, said roads still had to be de-mined and cleared before inspectors could go in the following day. “On Wednesday is when we plan the arrival of the OPCW experts,” he said at the Russian embassy in The Hague. Meanwhile the leaders of the G7—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., the U.S., and the EU—issued a joint statement backing the airstrikes that hit Syria's chemical-weapons factories last week.