Russia’s Foreign Ministry has insisted that a suspected chemical attack against Syrian civilians earlier this month was “staged,” citing a report broadcast by Russian state television on April 18.
International aid organizations blamed the Syrian regime of carrying out a chemical attack in early April that reportedly killed dozens of civilians in a rebel-held area outside Damascus. Moscow has denied that any gas attack happened in Douma, instead accusing Western countries of staging it to whip up anti-Russian hysteria and provide a pretext for airstrikes against Damascus.