DISINFO: Western and Ukrainian intelligence agencies are preparing false flag chemical weapons attacks in Syria
SUMMARY
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has warned that Western and Ukrainian intelligence services are preparing to stage the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
According to the SVR, such a provocation is currently being prepared by the special services of a number of NATO countries and Ukraine together with terrorist groups operating in northern Syria in the Idlib province. For this purpose, it is proposed to use the White Helmets NGO, which has become "famous" on Syrian soil for carrying out dirty work for the British special services.
The plan of the operation provides for militants to drop a mined container with chlorine from a UAV during strikes by the Syrian Armed Forces and the Russian Aerospace Forces on the positions of terrorist groups in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about false flag operations and chemical weapons. The allegation is not backed by any evidence.
Russian authorities accusing Ukraine of preparing false flag operations without presenting any proof has been a constant throughout the war, including claims about dirty bombs, nuclear provocations, bioweapons, toxic substances and staged atrocities. These pre-emptive claims are launched as a means to make denials of actual Russian atrocities more credible.
Ukraine’s military claims to have recorded 4,000 instances of Russia using chemical weapons in the frontline. In July, a mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited Ukraine and arranged technological assistance and training to gather evidence in this regard. At the moment of the publication of this disinformation story, the results of the mission had not been publicly released.
As this disinformation story appeared during the 107th Session of the OPCW Executive Council in The Hague in October 2024, it seems to be a pre-emptive attempt to create a framework in the informative space to deny any Russian involvement in the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, prior to the release of any OPCW conclusion.
Allegations about “false flag” chemical attacks in Syria have been debunked many times before (see here for a comprehensive list in our database in addition to our article The Least Accurate Oracle in the World). In fact, the constant use of chemical substances as a weapon by the Syrian regime of Bashar Al Assad, including the Douma attack, have been proven by UN investigators.
Pro-Kremlin media have portrayed the White Helmets as a Western-backed terrorist proxy group in Syria, in order to obfuscate the responsibility of the Assad regime for chemical attacks perpetrated during the Syrian civil war.
The White Helmets are a staple topic of pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives on the Syrian civil war, having already been accused of numerous other provocations and war crimes including organ trafficking; aiding terrorist organisations; staging and/or perpetrating chemical attacks, sometimes with the help of Western intelligence agencies. The allegations against the White Helmets have been well-documented in this database, with more than 150 cases.
See also similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukrainians are like the Syrian White Helmets & MI6 who bomb hospitals to blame Russia, that Kyiv is preparing bacteriological and chemical attacks against civilians in the occupied zone, that Ukraine prepares chemical weapons provocation to accuse Russia in OPCW, that The West ignores use of chemical weapons by Ukraine against Russia, that Ukraine is receiving chemical weapons from the West, that OPCW is anti-Russian US puppet, or that Douma chemical attack was a fake staged by NGOs like the White Helmets.