THE HAGUE, April 16. /TASS/. Russia demonstrated to the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) how the White Helmets had staged the latest provocation in Syria’s Douma, Russia’s Permanent Representative to that organization Alexander Shulgin said on Monday after the Council’s session.
"We handed out corresponding materials demonstrating that what happened in Douma on April 7 was well-orchestrated. A representative of the Russian defense ministry made a very important statement. Facts were given to show how the White Helmets, this pseudo-humanitarian non-government organization, work off the money they receive from Western sponsors, first of all, from the United States and Great Britain, to stage various sorts of provocations," he said.
Some non-governmental organizations, including White Helmets, claim that chemical weapons were used in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7. According to the statement uploaded to the organization’s website on April 8, chlorine bombs were dropped on the city to kill dozens and poison other local civilians who had to be brought to hospital.
The Russian foreign ministry dismissed that as fake news. The Russian defense ministry stated that White Helmets were an unreliable source, notorious for disseminating falsehoods. The Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties on April 9 examined Douma to find no traces of chemical weapons.