Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his country has all grounds to believe that the use of the chemical weapons in Damascus countryside was a provocation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his country has all grounds to believe that the use of the chemical weapons in Damascus countryside was a provocation.

Putin suggested that the attack in Damascus Ghota was a well-prepared provocation, pointing out that the area is full of old Soviet weapons, and it is not hard to find a rocket sealed by Russian letters to be used in order to implement such a provocation.

The top official of Russia noted that no one in the world is talking about punishing the Syrian opposition if its use of chemical weapons is confirmed, underlying that the Syrian chemical arsenal emerged as a response to the Zionist nuclear weapons.

The Zionist Times of Israel website revealed this week that the Zionist entity has a stockpile of 80 nuclear warheads, and might up to 115.

Putin stressed however the need to strip the whole region of weapons of mass destruction.

Putin indicated that he is not confident of the success of the Russian initiative to put the Syrian chemical weapons under international supervision, as well as the success of efforts to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to abandon his entire chemical weapons, recalling that his article in New York Times aimed at clarifying his position to the world following Obama's remarks on Syria.

However, he pointed out that there are many positive signs in this regard, where Damascus has agreed unconditionally to hand over its stockpile of chemical weapons and becomes now a member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Putin was speaking in Valdai International dialogue forum in Moscow, when he said his country's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, accusing the NATO of cheating his people when promised not to expand borders after the breakup of the Soviet Union.