Russia says child witness shows Douma attack 'staged'

Russia said today it would screen at the United Nations an interview with a child who it claims was made to pose as a victim of chemical weapons in Syria.

Moscow said the video supports its allegation that an alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma was a hoax.

Russian state television had yesterday aired the conversation with the child, whom it identified as an 11-year-old Syrian boy called Hassan Diab.

Russia says the supposed atrocity was staged by the civil defence organisation the White Helmets.

"We already have a subtitled version of this report," Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said on state channel Rossiya 1 today.

"We are distributing it to member countries (of the UN Security Council) and journalists, and at the next meeting of the Security Council we will find a way to screen it."