MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Claims in the Western media that the Syrian government troops allegedly used chemical weapons in Aleppo are aimed at further fanning the inter-Syrian conflict and exacerbating contradictions among the warring sides, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"Only in this way it is possible to explain reports released in the media by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and, finally, the US Atlantic Council with the assistance of the CNN on the alleged instances of the use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops in Aleppo, mass executions in a military prison near Damascus and the purposeful destruction by the Russian air task force of the social and economic infrastructure in Syria," the spokeswoman said.

"The evidential base of such so-called sensations leaves much to be desired but, as we see, this does not bother their authors much," the diplomat said.

"The aim is to frustrate a chance for a turn towards peaceful political settlement that has appeared largely thanks to Russia’s efforts and disrupt the prospects that have opened up for the equitable and mutually respectful broad international interaction in the interests of eradicating the terrorist hotbed in the Middle East and stabilizing the region," the spokeswoman said.

Indicatively, all these developments are taking place amid a campaign unfolding in the West for the struggle against the so-called fake news, the Russian diplomat said.