Putin slams 'unfounded accusations' over Syria chemical attack

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday slammed "unfounded accusations" over the "incident with chemical weapons" in Syria in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Kremlin said.

"Putin in particular underlined the unacceptability of making unfounded accusations against anyone before a thorough and impartial international investigation is carried out," the Kremlin said in a statement. Russia's explanation for the devastating chemical attack isn't getting any traction in the international community.

Syria's closest ally on Wednesday rejected a UN Security Council resolution that blamed Bashar Assad's forces, and said that the atrocity in Idlib was the result of a regime airstrike on a rebel chemical munitions depot. But evidence points to the regime launching the chemical attack, and Russia has a track record of dubious denials over atrocities in the six-year conflict. Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson rejected the Russian explanation, saying, "All the evidence I have seen suggests this was the Assad regime… using illegal weapons on their own people." And a US official told Reuters that Russia's claim does not "comport with reality."

Russia has repeatedly lied about its role in Syria. It uses misinformation as a tactic there and elsewhere. Meanwhile, a British chemical weapons expert said such a strike would simply destroy sarin, the nerve agent suspected to have been used in the chemical attack, which killed 86 people in the town of Khan Sheikhoun Tuesday.