Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution that would have extended for a year the mandate of a panel investigating who is behind chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
This marks the ninth time that Moscow has vetoed against a draft resolution on Syria presented before the UN Security Council.
Eleven countries voted in favor of the resolution while China and Kazakhstan abstained. Bolivia voted against alongside Russia.
The investigation by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism, was created by the UN Security Council in August 2015 following reports of chemical attacks in Syria. It became fully operational in November 2016 and presented its first report in February 2016.
The JIM's mandate is to end on Nov. 17. Its report on the use of chemical weapons in Syria is scheduled to be submitted to the the Security Council on Oct. 26
Reports of chemical attacks on civilian populations and opposition fighters have continued to come out of Syria since an attack in August 2013 killed more than 1,400 victims in East Ghouta near Damascus.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it documented at least 174 chemical attacks in Syria since September 2013 when the Security Council issued resolution 2118 for the dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons Arsenal.
