Samples the UN team collected in Syria were sent to laboratories around Europe to check them for traces of poison gas.

Samples collected by UN chemical weapons experts in Syria have been brought to Germany for analysis, according to a German newspaper. The information comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will not rule out military action against Syria.

A German military laboratory is reportedly analyzing evidence collected by UN inspectors in Syria to determine whether chemical weapons have been used in the civil war there, a German newspaper reported on Wednesday.

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The Scientific Institute for Defense Technologies (WIS) in the small town of Münster, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Hamburg, is the only large-scale German institute that researches defense against nuclear, biological and chemical warfare. The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the institute had received samples of concrete and textiles collected in Syria to search for traces of poison gas.

There was no immediate confirmation of the report because the locations of the analyses were meant to be kept secret. However the WIS is one of several labs across the globe associated with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, one of the main collaborators in the UN investigation.

Source  SPIEGEL ONLINE