Russian Envoy Suggests West Would Ignore Findings on Douma Chemical Attack

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Western states will ignore the recent findings on fabricated evidence of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Syrian city of Douma due to these countries' anti-Damascus ideology, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told Sputnik.

"We have been saying for a long time that all of this [chemical attacks] is a fabrication, that this is all used to justify the illegitimate military action against the Syrian government; this is new evidence that confirms what we have been saying […] I think that our Western colleagues will not pay attention to it and ignore it because of their anti-Damascus ideology. And everything that does not go in line with this ideology, paradigm, they will just ignore", Nebenzia said Thursday.

On Wednesday, Riam Dalati, the Syria producer at the BBC, said he had concluded after six months of investigations that the footage of people being treated after an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Syrian city of Douma was staged. Riam Dalati said the attack did take place but without the use of sarin gas and that the nature of any chemical used would have to be verified by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

READ MORE: Douma Chemical Hoax: Mainstream Media Have Double Standard Toward Syria — Journo

Everything else around the attack was fabricated, according to Dalati. However, the BBC spokesperson told sputnik Thursday that Dalati was expressing only his own opinion.

The White Helmets group published the video after the reported attack in Douma, which is located in the Damascus neighborhood of Eastern Ghouta, in early April 2018. The video showed local residents, both adults and children, being treated in the hospital after the alleged attack.

The reports about the attack and the publication of the footage by the White Helmets were followed by missile strikes carried out by France, the United Kingdom and the United States on alleged chemical weapons production facilities in Damascus.

READ MORE: Russian Envoy: OPCW Report Failed to Clarify Delayed Inspection in Syria's Douma

Western states have repeatedly accused the Syrian authorities of having carried out the Douma attack, while Damascus denied any involvement in the incident.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that the claims about the alleged use of toxic chemicals by the Syrian government were aimed at justifying external military action. Moreover, prior to the Douma incident, the Russian Armed Forces warned about a provocation with the use of chemical weapons being prepared in the Syrian city by the militants.

READ MORE: White Helmets Engaged in Looting, Human Organ Trafficking in Syria — Watchdog