The head of the international chemical weapons watchdog said Friday that Russia's veto of United Nations Security Council resolutions to extend the mandate of an investigation team that lays blame for chemical attacks in Syria "creates a gap which needs to be addressed by the international community".

The mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, or JIM, set up by the United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons expired earlier this month after the Syrian government's staunch ally Russia blocked efforts to extend its mandate.

Russia has been highly critical of the JIM's findings that the Syrian government used chlorine gas in at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015 and used the nerve agent sarin in an aerial attack on Khan Sheikhoun last April 4 that killed about 100 people and affected about 200 others.

The OPCW has a fact-finding mission, which works to confirm allegations of chemical attacks in Syria, but does not apportion blame.

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