By Megan Davies and Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW, April 6 (Reuters) - Russia criticised Western moves to expand a planned United Nations probe into chemical weapons in Syria and compared it to the build-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Russia, which has used its clout as a veto-wielding Security Council state to blunt Western pressure on Syria, says the U.N. probe announced last month should focus on Syrian government allegations rebels used chemical arms near Aleppo.

Western countries want two additional rebel claims about the use of such arms investigated as well. The Syrian opposition says President Bashar al-Assad's government carried out all three alleged chemical attacks.

In a pointed statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday voiced anger over a letter in which it said the U.N. Secretariat told the Syrian government it intended to broaden the investigation beyond the incident in late March near Aleppo.


It said the U.N. Secretariat was seeking overly broad access for investigators to facilities and individuals in Syria and wanted to use aircraft for transportation.

"This approach brings to mind the line taken over an investigation into the presence of chemical weapons in Iraq, which was based on deliberately false data and led to well-known consequences," it said, referring to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

"We cannot fail to draw the conclusion that under pressure from certain states, the U.N. Secretariat is taking an unconstructive and inconsistent position that in essence undermines the investigation (into the incident near Aleppo)," it said, without mentioning U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by name.

Last month, Russia accused Western nations of trying to use the investigation to push Assad from power and said the probe might be biased unless Russian and Chinese experts were part of the team of investigators.

Russia says that it does not intend to prop up Assad but that his departure from power must not be a precondition for a political solution to the conflict.

More than 70,000 people have been killed during Syria's two-year conflict. (Reporting by Megan Davies and Steve Gutterman; Editing by Jason Webb)

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Russia Condemns UN Probe Into Alleged Chemical Weapons Used In Syria

Obviously, Russia has completely different interests in what it wants to happen in Syria than does the United States and Europe and most of the rest of the world.

However, I have the feeling that there in reality is no good situation possible for some time in Syria. Even when Assad falls which he must, that doesn't mean that Russia and Iran won't still be there with some new puppet regime trying to keep the old version of Syria still alive. So, any way you look at it because Assad has no interest at all in allowing his people to choose what they want, this whole situation could get worse and worse whether Assad is there or not for the next 5, 10, or even 20 years. I don't think Islamist terrorists will be able to set up the Caliphate that they want but something like the mess Morsi created in Egypt through the Muslim brotherhood could occur there instead. And even though most of Europe wouldn't like this, it might be better than a country governed by Al Qaeda in Syria. For example, the majority of people in Syria are Sunni Muslims like Egypt is mostly Sunni Muslims and so is Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and several other countries in the area. So, since Syria is presently majority Sunni Muslim that is now the most likely way this is going to end with a Sunni Muslim Majority Government of some kind, even if at first it might be run by Al Qaeda sympathizers since they tend to be the fiercest fighters because they don't care if they die fighting for Mohammed. So, we will see what is created next in Syria. There is a saying in war, 'Might makes right'. You and I might not agree with this but the saying here that is most appropriate is: "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun". Then everyone has to define what a good guy with a gun looks like. So, when the world has enough consensus about this you will see the new government in Syria hopefully reflect the real needs of the Syrian People and the real needs of their neighbor countries and the rest of the world.