MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. The US, British and French strikes against Syria deal a powerful blow to efforts aimed at promoting the Geneva process, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"This act of aggression deals a powerful blow to efforts aimed at promoting the Geneva political process based on UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which unanimously reaffirmed the commitment to respecting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," the ministry stressed. Western countries are aligning themselves with jihadists in Syria and seeking to dismember the country, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

"It is getting finally clear that those in the West who are exploiting humanitarian rhetoric and trying to justify their military presence in Syria by the needs to crush jihadists are actually aligning themselves with them and seeking to dismember the country," the ministry stressed.

"Such an intention is confirmed by the flat refusal by the US and its allies to render assistance in restoring Syrian districts liberated by the government troops," the statement reads.

The missile strike by the US, Great Britain and France against Syria suggests they want to give extremists a possibility to restore their ranks, the ministry said. 

The aggression was launched at a time when the Syrian troops are continuing their successful offensive against terrorist groupings, including the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups outlawed in Russia, the ministry pointed out.

"It turns out that the US and its allies want to give radicals and extremists a possibility to take their breath, restore their ranks and prolong the bloodshed on Syrian soil and then complicate the political settlement," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow is urging to immediately put an end to the West’s dangerous policy line towards ruining the accords on Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"We are urging to immediately put an end to the highly dangerous policy line of Western leaders towards ruining all the accords on the ways of the Syrian settlement," the ministry stressed.

"The strikes were carried out precisely at the moment when the OPCW experts were to head off to Douma in order to establish the truth. We have reason to believe that the attacks on Syria were aimed at obstructing the work of the OPCW experts," the Russian ministry noted.

"The media reports there are casualties. The exact number is now being verified," the Russian ministry noted. "According to the Russian embassy in Damascus, there have been no casualties among Russian citizens," the ministry added.

"Russia demands an emergency UN Security Council meeting and calls on all its members, and all responsible countries of the international community to provide an assessment of what occurred, and to eliminate any possibility for further reckless acts of aggression, which compromise peace and security in the region that had already been deeply destabilized as a result of criminal schemes by the US and its allies in Iraq and Libya," the Russian ministry stressed.

The missile strike against Syria’s military and civilian infrastructures was carried out by US warplanes and naval ships in cooperation with the British and French air forces on April 14.