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US denies reports about preparation of provocation with chemical weapons in Syria

Earlier Russian Defense Ministry said, FSA militants have delivered chlorine cylinders to the Syrian Deir ez-Zor province to simulate another "chemical attack against civilians"

WASHINGTON, June 14. /TASS/. The US and its allies are not preparing any provocations with chemical weapons in Syria, US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Wednesday.

She commented on the statement by Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

The Russian Defense Ministry is "falsely claiming U.S. forces and the Free Syrian Army preparing a staged chemical weapons attack in Syria," Nauert wrote in Twitter.

"While Russia used nerve agent in Salisbury and shields Assad from accountability for repeated CW attacks in Syria, we abide by the Chemical Weapons Convention," she said.

On Monday, Konashenkov told reporters that the militants of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) with the participation of the US special operations units are preparing a provocation involving chloride in the Syrian Deir ez-Zor province to provide an opportunity for the US-led coalition of a new attack on the country’s state facilities.

According to Konashenkov, FSA militants have delivered chlorine cylinders to the Syrian Deir ez-Zor province to simulate another "chemical attack against civilians." "After being published in western media a staged video is set to initiate a missile strike on Syria’s state facilities by the US-led coalition and justify an offensive operation by militants against Syrian governmental forces on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River," he said, adding that Russia’s Defense Ministry warns that the use of such provocations for destabilization of the environment on the Syrian territory is unacceptable.

In April, some non-governmental organizations, including White Helmets, claimed 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. However, on April 14, the US, the UK and France, using unconfirmed information about the chemical attack as an excuse, carried a massive strike on Syria without the sanction of the UN Security Council.

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