Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to make representations to his Russian counterpart Russia’s veto of the UN Security Council draft resolution on extending the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism investigating use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The Foreign Secretary has strongly condemned repeated Security Council vetoes by Russia - on 24 October, 16 and 17 November - which have blocked the renewal of the mandate for the UN Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (UN-OPCW) Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM). In a written statement to Parliament on 30 November, the Foreign Secretary condemned Russia's "overriding determination to protect their allies in the Syrian regime, whatever the crimes committed." The UK remains determined to continue to seek accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria and continues to raise the issue with Russia bilaterally.