Russia’s Representative at the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin speaking on Monday, said his country has “irrefutable” evidence that a recent suspected chemical attack in the Damascus suburb town of Douma, which was used as a pretext for missile strikes against Syria, was a “false flag” operation orchestrated by British spy services.
Alexander Shulgin made the remarks during a meeting of the organization’s executive council in The Hague on Monday. Shulgin said: "We have not just a ‘high level of confidence,’ as our Western partners uniformly put it; we have irrefutable proof that there was no chemical attack in Douma on April 7."
Shulgin went on to describe the incident in Douma as a “pre-planned false flag attack by the British security services, which could have also been aided by their allies in Washington.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Russian official accused Washington of playing “first fiddle” in the Douma incident based on a “pre-written scenario.”
Shulgin also stressed that Russian military specialists had found “not a single piece of evidence” substantiating the Western claims about the Douma incident.
He added: "The Syrian government had absolutely no reason to conduct a gas attack on Douma when the city was already almost liberated from the grip of militants, and thus the anti-Damascus accusations look absurd."
The Russian official further denounced the tripartite April 14 “military aggression” on Syria, saying “this crime can by no means be justified.”
The Western countries rushed to blame the Douma incident on the Syrian government, but Damascus strongly rejected the accusation as fabrications meant to halt the advanced made by pro-government forces against terrorists.
Syria has rejected any involvement in the suspected attack. It surrendered its chemical stockpile in 2013 to a mission led by the OPCW and the UN.
On April 14, the US, Britain and France launched a coordinated missile attack against sites and research facilities near Damascus and Homs with the purported goal of paralyzing the Syrian government’s capability to produce chemicals.
Syrian air defenses shot down a significant number of the more than 100 missiles fired at the country in violation of international law and United Nations' Charter.
