WASHINGTON, March 15. /TASS/. The situation in Syria remains in the focus of Russia’s diplomacy, despite attempts to distract it by the incident with the poisoning of former military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom, and Washington should drop its irresponsible statements and plans, the Russian embassy in Washington said in a commentary on Wednesday.

"Once again we call on Washington to drop its irresponsible statements and plans that are fraught with irreversible escalation of the conflict. It will not be able to divert our attention from Syria by this ‘British incident.’ Syria remains in focus of attention of the Russian diplomacy," the embassy stressed.

The embassy recalled that several days ago the Russian side has warned Washington "against a temptation to use militants’ provocations with the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria as a pretext to deliver a strike against Damascus." According to Russian diplomats, "fanning tension in US media" and strike threats voiced by US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, "are obviously meant to engraf the idea of inevitability of strikes in people’s minds."

"In this context, we want to know who Washington actually supports in Eastern Ghouta. Jabhat al-Nusra (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) has been in control of entire ‘resistance’ there, shelling residential quarters of the capital city, including Russian diplomatic missions," the embassy added.