Press TV - Russia has criticized a recent United Nations report blaming the Syrian government for a�chemical attack on the town of Khan Shaykhun, saying it is an �amateurish� document and based on selective data.

In a joint report sent to the UN Security Council on October 26, the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons� Joint Investigative Mechanism held the Damascus government �responsible for the release of sarin� gas at Khan Shaykhun in Syria�s Idlib Province on 4 April 2017 that left more than 80 people dead.

The Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN said in a statement on Tuesday that the UN investigation into the incident was conducted with �major violations of high standards set by the Chemical Weapons Convention.�

�After reading the report carefully, it is hard to call it professionally prepared. Rather, it is amateurish and is based mostly on assumptions and selective use of facts,� the statement read.

It also noted that Russian experts will continue �studying technical aspects of the report� and release their assessments��soon.�

Syria�s Foreign Ministry has categorically denied the content of the joint report as �falsifications of the truth� that distorts the information on what happened at Khan Shaykhun.

Also reacting to the report was Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who said the UN document contained �many inconsistencies, logical discrepancies, using doubtful witness accounts and unverified evidence.� He further stressed that certain countries were seeking to use the report to �resolve their own strategic geopolitical issues in Syria.�

Following the Khan Shaykhun incident, the Western countries rushed to blame it on Damascus, with the US launching a missile attack against�Shayrat Airbase in Syria�s Homs Province on April 7.

Washington claimed that the air field targeted in the missile raid had been the origin of the April 4 gas attack.

Damascus denied the accusation of being behind the incident and described it as a fabrication� to justify the subsequent US missile strike.

Syria turned over its entire chemical stockpile under a deal negotiated by Russia and the United States back in 2013.