MOSCOW, April 19./TASS/.Images from Syria’s Douma where people were allegedly injured in a chemical attack are 100-percent fraudulent, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday in comments about the White Helmets’ allegations that chemical weapons had been used in Douma on April 7.
"A lot of fake materials were spread over social media – images and videos from the alleged sites. Indeed, these locations can be confirmed, but in many cases the situation and the circumstances of what was going on there are contrived," the diplomat noted.
"This is 100-percent fake. How is it that dead kids are moved from place to place, if the key goal is to confirm the fact that the attack occurred? Because in order to spread fake evidence they needed emotional coloring, so they were tasked with diverting attention from factual inconsistencies," she pointed out.
Some non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the 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 killing dozens and poisoning others, who had to be hospitalized.
The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed that report as fake news. The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the White Helmets are an unreliable source, notorious for disseminating falsehoods. The Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Opposing Parties on April 9 examined Douma to find no traces of chemical weapons.
On April 14, the United States, the UK and France delivered missile strikes on Syria’s military and civilian infrastructure facilities. They said the strikes had been a response to the alleged chemical attack in Douma, a suburb of the Syrian captial.