Russia slams Amnesty's report on Syria raids death toll as 'fake'

Russia on Wednesday rejected allegations by rights group Amnesty International that Moscow's strikes in Syria have caused massive civilian casualties, saying its report was made up of "cliches and fakes."

"We examined this report," defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing. "Once again there was nothing concrete or new that was published, only cliches and fakes that we have already repeatedly exposed."

"Amnesty International is confidently arguing that there were no military targets or militants in the areas that were allegedly hit with Russian strikes, but they cannot know this and have no way of checking," said Konashenkov.

The London-based rights group on Wednesday issued a damning report which said that Russian raids have killed hundreds of civilians since start of the campaign on September 30, many in targeted strikes which could constitute war crimes.

Amnesty in the report said it had "researched remotely" over 25 Russian attacks that occurred in Homs, Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo between the start of the Russian campaign on September 30th and November 29th.

It said there was evidence suggesting Russia uses internationally-banned cluster bombs in its strikes while Russian authorities may have covered up civilian damage to a mosque and a hospital.

Russia's military "unlawfully used unguided bombs in densely populated areas and inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions," the report said.

Konashenkov said the report raised empty allegations "without any sort of proof" and relied on the wrong sources.

"Even in the preface of the report it says that all the listed facts have been researched long-distance, with information received from telephone questioning of local so-called rights activists," he said.

He said the report says Russian strikes targeted a hospital "while saying that witnesses did not see or hear a plane."...
  AFP
NEWZ.GR
23/12/15