MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected as fake news Saturday’s reports on a chemical attack carried out by the Syrian government forces in Douma near Damascus.

"Fake news on the use of chlorine or other chemical agents by the government forces continue," the ministry said. "Another piece of such fabricated information on the alleged chemical attack in Douma emerged yesterday."

Allegations about the use of chemical agents by the Syrian government forces are aimed at justifying external military strikes, the ministry said. "The goal of these false speculations, which are not substantiated by any facts, is to cover up terrorists and irreconcilable radical opposition, which opposes political settlement, and to simultaneously try to justify potential external military strikes," the ministry said.

"It is necessary to once again caution that military intervention under false and fabricated pretexts in Syria, where the Russian servicemen stay at the request of the legitimate government, is absolutely unacceptable and may trigger the gravest consequences," the ministry said.

Earlier on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry refuted reports that the Syrian forces had used chemical weapons in Douma in Eastern Ghouta. According to Head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Sides in Syria Major General Yuri Yevtushenko, the allegations that a chlorine barrel bomb had been dropped in Douma by the Syrian armed forces came from the so-called independent non-governmental organizations, including the White Helmets, which is widely known for its fake news.

The general noted that the West used the allegations on chemical attacks to disrupt an operation beginning on Sunday on evacuating from Douma irreconcilable militants of the Jaysh al-Islam group. On Saturday, news broke that they resumed fighting against the government forces.