MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Intelligence services of some NATO countries and Ukraine are set to stage chemical weapons use by the Syrian army and the Russian military contingent in Syria to discredit Damascus and Moscow in the UN, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement obtained by TASS on Tuesday.

According to information that the SVR receives, "the leadership of the United States and Britain, being aware of their failed course towards inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia in the Ukraine conflict," pays special attention to undermining Russia’s prestige in Global South states.

"They resort to any dirty tricks and ever more frequently to outright terror against our country’s friends in the Middle East and Africa. These measures include accusations that the Anglo-Saxons have repeatedly used at the UN venue that Syria allegedly employs with Russia’s tacit consent chemical weapons against the population of the districts held by the so-called armed opposition," the SVR stressed.

"According to the SVR information, precisely this provocation is being prepared by intelligence services of some NATO countries and Ukraine jointly with terrorist groups active in the Idlib province in northern Syria. The plan is to stage the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army and the Russian military contingent in the Syrian Arab Republic and then launch a campaign to discredit Damascus and Moscow in the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," the SVR press office stressed.

This plan envisages involving the White Helmets non-governmental organization "notorious for its dirty work for British intelligence services on Syrian soil," the press office added.

"Its activists will make video records of so-called consequences of the incident and send a corresponding message to international organizations and also alleged evidence by civilians and blame Syria and Russia for that," it said.

According to the SVR data, "under the plan of the operation, militants will drop a mined chlorine canister from a UAV at the time of strikes by the Syrian army and Russia’s Aerospace Forces against the positions of terrorist groups in the Idlib de-escalation zone. Areas east of the city of Idlib are considered as the most probable place to stage the provocation," the SVR press office said.

However, "staged chemical attacks in Syria will hardly help the American hegemon and its allies pull to their side Global South countries, most of which still do not want to assume anti-Russian positions in the Ukraine conflict," it said.

"Meanwhile, these provocations will undoubtedly intensify their distrust for the United States and Great Britain," the SVR press office stressed.