Russian President Vladimir Putin says he has "intelligence" that the US was planning false-flag attacks in Syria to frame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime of using chemical weapons. He also announced that Russia will ask the UN to investigate the chemical attack that took place in the Idlib province of Syria. The Russians deny that the Syrian government is responsible for the attacks. Following is a transcript:
PUTIN:We have intelligence from various sources that similar provocations are being prepared in other regions of Syria, including southern suburbs of Damascus, where they are planning to plant chemicals and blame the Syrian government for using them. But we believe that any displays of this kind deserve to be thoroughly investigated. We are going to officially turn to the corresponding UN structure in the Hague and to call on the international community to thoroughly investigate these actions.
Of course, we could not skip the discussion on the current relationship between Russia and the European Union. We believe that it would be in our common interest to reinstate the Russia-EU trade ties, based on the principles of equality and mutual respect.