Vladimir Putin has said it is unacceptable to make “groundless” accusations over a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria until a full investigation is carried out.
The Russian President discussed the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone conversation, the Kremlin said on Thursday.
Mr Putin's ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is accused of using banned munitions, possibly including the nerve agent sarin gas, to kill more than 70 people in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.
In the phone call with the Israeli premier Mr Putin “highlighted that it was unacceptable to make groundless accusations against anyone without conducting a detailed and unbiased investigation,” a statement said.
The president’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned earlier on Thursday that the West should not rush to blame the Assad government for the attack, which both Damascus and Moscow said casualties were not caused by regime chemical weapons but by gases released in an explosion at an extremist ammunition depot nearby, targeted by Syrian war planes.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a statement on Wednesday that preliminary evidence gathered by its medical staff on the ground pointed to the presence of both sarin - a nerve agent - and chlorine at the site.
Post mortems carried out by Turkish authorities on victims taken over the border for treatment who subsequently died found traces of chemical weapons, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said.
More to follow
