According to Zakharova:

It is obvious that these missile strikes were planned before. For every expert it is obvious that this decision was made well in advance and before the Idlib events.

She also says that recent events in Syria are being used as a distraction as the US carries out deadly airstrikes in Mosul.

In a statement released on Friday morning by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin described the US attack as a violation of international law based on an „invented pretext“.

This is consistent with Russia’s position on how it views Assad’s alleged „war crime“.

Speaking at the Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Vladimir Safronkov  said that the US-drafted resolution blaming Assad for Tuesday’s „gas attack“ in Idlib province was based on „falsified reports from the White Helmets„, an organization that has been „discredited long ago„.