MOSCOW: Russia on Friday criticised a United Nations report which blamed a sarin gas attack in Syria on Bashar al-Assad's regime, with a deputy foreign minister saying it contained inconsistencies and unverified evidence.
"Even the first cursory read shows that many inconsistencies, logical discrepancies, using doubtful witness accounts and unverified evidence... all of this is still (in the report)," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax news agency.
Ryabkov said other nations were seeking to use the report to "resolve their own strategic geopolitical issues in Syria".
Russia would analyse the findings and publish a response soon, he added.
More than 80 people died on April 4 when sarin gas projectiles were fired into Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the Idlib province of northwestern Syria.
Syria and its ally Russia had suggested that a rebel weapon may have detonated on the ground but the UN panel confirmed Western intelligence reports that blamed the regime.
The expert panel's report came as the United States renewed its warning that Assad has no role in Syria's future.