MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Reuters reported earlier on Monday, citing the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, that at least 17 people had been killed in an airstrike by Syrian and Russian warplanes on the town of Ashara, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the provincial capital, Deir ez-Zor.
"The aircraft from the Russian air group in Syria did not carry out combat missions in the vicinity of Ashara in the Deir ez-Zor province," ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
"It is simply another round of rumors whose dissemination may only harm the business reputation of the respectable British news agency," Konashenkov emphasized.
