MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. A report by Amnesty International on the alleged deaths of civilians from Russian air strikes in Syria is full of fakes and stock phrases, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.
"We have got acquainted with the report and again nothing specific or new has been published. The same stock phrases and fakes, which we have numerously denounced before. Such expressions are used throughout the report as ‘suspected Russian air attacks, ‘may have violated international law,’ and so on. Therefore, these are all-out assumptions without any evidence," the spokesman said.
Amnesty International claims there were no military objectives or militants in the areas of "suspected Russian attacks," Konashenkov said.
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"But they can’t know this and are unable to verify it. It is known that jihadists in Syria are operating as highly mobile units, which are using the notorious Toyota pickups with large-caliber armaments mounted on them," the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Each such vehicle is a tactical unit and considered a legitimate military target in accordance with the US Army classification, Konashenkov said.
"Incidentally, some of these vehicles have got into Syria from the US territory, which has already been proved," the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.