Putin: Russia strongly condemns attack against Syria

"Russia strongly condemns the attack on Syria where Russian servicemen are helping the legitimate government in the war on terrorism," the Kremlin press office quoted Putin as saying.

"By its actions, the United States is increasingly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria and bringing sufferings to civilians and actually conniving at terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for seven years and provoking a new wave of refugees from that country and the region as a whole," Putin said.

According to Vladimir Putin, the United States used a staged chemical attack against civilians to carry out a strike.

"One again, just like a year ago when the US attacked Shayrat Airbase in Syria, a staged chemical attack against civilians was used as a pretext, this time in Douma, a Damascus suburb. Russian military experts who visited the site of the alleged incident found no traces of the use of chlorine or other chemical agents. Not a single local resident confirmed that a chemical attack had taken place," the Kremlin press service quotes him as saying.