White House: Russia Is Lying About Assad's Chemical Attacks

The Russian government has been spreading "disinformation" about last week's chemical-weapons attack, according to senior White House officials.

In a Tuesday briefing with reporters and in a document of declassified information distributed to the press, the administration says it has concluded the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad perpetrated the April 4 chemical attack on civilians in the Idlib province. Officials have also concluded that sarin gas, a potent nerve agent, was used.

But the Russian government, which is allied with Assad, has been publicly and privately offering alternative theories on the attack that killed dozens of people, including children. White House officials say the information from intelligence sources does not support any of what it called "disinformation" from the Russians.

"Across the board, starting in 2013 and then since, we've seen both the Russians and the Syrians have a very clear campaign to try to obfuscate the nature of attacks, the attackers, and what has happened at any particular incident," said a White House official. "They throw out a bunch of potential agents, a bunch of potential responsible or accountable parties, and also their own information is inconsistent with their own narrative."

Among those were that the chemical weapons belonged to rebel or terrorist groups opposed to the Assad regime.