PARIS, April 1 (Xinhua) -- France on Monday rejected Russia's allegations over French intelligence service involvement in plotting a false flag chemical attack in the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib to subsequently intervene militarily against the Syrian government.
"It's a gross lie," the French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Agnes Von Der Muhll said during an e-press briefing.
That is "typical of those of this center established by the Russian and Syrian authorities", she added.
On Friday, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation Viktor Kupshichin said that a chlorine-based toxic chemical agent was transported from the northwestern Syrian city of Saraqib to several locations throughout the Idlib province under the supervision of French intelligence agents.
"On March 23, under the supervision of French intelligence [officers], canisters, made to look like they contained regular oxygen and household gas, but containing a poisonous, supposedly chlorine-based, substance, were transferred from Saraqib to the towns of Khan Sheikhoun, Maaret Horma and Kafer Zaita (all in the northeastern Idlib province)," Kupshichin said, quoted by Russian news agency Sputnik.
In April 2018, France, in coordination with U.S. and British forces, claimed that it had struck upon a clandestine chemical arsenal of the Syrian government in an operation to punish Damascus for the alleged use of toxic gas against civilians in Douma.
