The leader of the United Nations investigative panel that has found that Syria used chemical weapons expressed pessimism on Wednesday about his panel’s future, and he said Russian diplomats had warned him regularly that the Kremlin was prepared to reject its findings.
In an interview, the panel’s leader, Edmond Mulet, a veteran United Nations diplomat, also said he was mystified as to why the Russians had tenaciously defended the Syrian government when, in his view, the proof of its chemical weapons attacks was overwhelming.
“I didn’t know what the conclusions would be of our investigations,” Mr. Mulet said. “Maybe they knew, and so they were preparing the ground for this already.”
The panel’s mandate from the United Nations Security Council expires in just over a week, with no clear sign it will be renewed.
On Tuesday, the panel’s latest findings — that Syrian forces were responsible for a lethal assault using sarin nerve agent on the village of Khan Sheikhoun this past April 4 — were rejected by Russian and Syrian diplomats at a Security Council meeting.
Russia’s deputy permanent representative, Vladimir Safronkov, ridiculed Mr. Mulet in his objections to the findings, which were based on witness interviews, photographs, videos and chemical analysis of soil samples that the Syrian government had provided.
Mr. Mulet said he had not been surprised by the criticism, given what he described as Russia’s protests of the panel’s research methods in the months leading up to the report.
He said Russian diplomats would tell him how the panel should operate, warning him that “if you don’t do it this way, we will not accept your conclusions.”
