Thread by @aaronjmate

Days after @TheGrayzoneNews reported explosive new leaks on OPCW's Syria cover-up (thegrayzone.com/2020/12/07/opc…), OPCW Director General Fernando Arias is appearing before the UN Security Council.

Russia's UN ambassador has asked OPCW Director General Arias multiple questions, including whether he will finally meet with the Douma probe inspectors whose findings were suppressed, and let them air their concerns:

Russian UN Rep. also asks Arias about June 2018 attempt to doctor the OPCW Douma team's original report & replace it with a bogus version. He cites an OPCW email published by @TheGrayzoneNews admitting the censorship but claiming it wasn't done at "behest" of Arias' predecessor.

Russian Amb. Vasily Nebenzya asks OPCW chief Arias about his claim that bulk of Douma probe was conducted after the departure of Inspector B (Brendan Whelan), author of the original report & leading dissenter against the censorship. Arias' claim, Nebenzya says, is not factual:

Russia asks OPCW chief Arias about the @Bellingcat hoax. BC claimed to have obtained a letter Arias sent to Whelan, but @TheGrayzoneNews proved it was fake: (thegrayzone.com/2018/08/15/a-r…).

Arias is asked if: letter came from OPCW; he stands by its claims; & it will be investigated.

Russia asks OPCW chief Arias about a recent leaked email, published by @TheGrayzoneNews. An OPCW exec praised Whelan, the dissenting inspector, but feared that challenging the suppression of the Douma probe would help the "Russian narrative." (thegrayzone.com/2020/12/07/opc…)

After a series of questions from Russia about the suppression of the OPCW's Douma probe, OPCW Director General Fernando Arias appears to complain that these questions were posed in public, rather than in closed session. (Arias' answers were later delivered in closed session).

Before the UNSC meeting went to closed session, China's UN Ambassador encouraged OPCW chief Fernando Arias to provide a "prompt" response to Russia's "targeted" questions about the Syria probe controversy. (The session is now closed, so we can't hear Arias' response).