"According to preliminary data, as a result of the armed conflict, the reasons for which are now being clarified, five people, presumably Russian citizens, could have been killed. There are also injured people, but all this requires verification — in particular, first of all, their citizenship — whether they are all citizens of Russia or other countries. I would like to stress once again that we are not talking about Russian servicemen," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing.
According to Zakharova, reports of hundreds of Russian citizens killed in the airstrike are "disinformation" by anti-government forces.
"Claims about the deaths of dozens and hundreds of Russian citizens are classic misinformation. There are not 400, not 200, not 100 and not ten [of them killed as a result of the US-led coalition's airstrike]," she emphasized.
READ MORE: WATCH: US-Led Coalition Strike Syrian Government Forces
"Among the first to spread this information within their channels were Syrian anti-government militants, who for some reason took a photo of the surface of Mars, put on it an image of destroyed military equipment, perhaps even Ukrainian, dated June 2014."
The spokeswoman emphasized that there were many people of different nationalities in Syria’s conflict zones.
"There is a large number of citizens from all regions of the world, including Russia and CIS countries, in the conflict zones. The purposes for their stay in war zones are different, including participation in hostilities," Zakharova said, noting that it was hard to trace all of them.
US-Led Coalition's Airstrike on Pro-Damascus Forces
Damascus has slammed the attack as "a new act of aggression that constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity," while the Russian Defense Ministry said that the attack showcased that the real goal behind Washington's "illegal military presence in Syria" was control over the country's economic assets rather than defeating Daesh.
Later, media reports emerged, alleging that a large number of Russian "mercenaries" had been killed in airstrikes. So far, the death of one Russian citizen Kiril Ananyev from an activist group "Another Russia" has been reported by the organization's coordinator.
READ MORE: US Attack on Pro-Damascus Forces 'Attempt to Support Terorrism' — Syrian TV
When asked to comment on the reports, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that he didn't rule out that Russian nationals, who do not belong to the Russian Armed Forces, could be in Syria.
Earlier in the day, he emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not make any decisions to classify any information regarding Russian nationals in Syria.
