Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed on Tuesday any suggestion that the Syrian government was behind a chemical attack that killed scores of people in Idlib province in April.

“According to our information, there is no proof that chemical weapons were used by (President Bashar) Assad. We are convinced that he didn’t do it,” Putin told daily newspaper Le Figaro in an interview.

The remarks came a day after new French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country’s intelligence services in April blamed Damascus for the Idlib attack, said the use of chemical weapons in Syria was a red line for Paris and would result in reprisals.

Putin said he had offered to arrange inspections of the site in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, but that all the major powers had refused. He said the objective of the allegations had been to discredit President Assad and put pressure on him.

Earlier in April, dozens of people were killed in an alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib. Foreign-backed Syrian armed opposition, backed by Washington and Western mainstream media pointed the finger of blame at the Damascus government for the Idlib tragedy, without proving any proof to support its claims.

Moscow said that Khan Sheikhoun tragedy took place after a Syrian air strike hit a terrorist warehouse containing toxic substances, but stressed that Damascus did not launch a chemical attack against its own people.

Syria firmly denies such attack, stressing that these allegations have been part of anti-Damascus propaganda.

Source: Agencies