Russia: proposed U.N. Syria resolution based on "fake information"

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A proposed United Nations resolution on a chemical weapons attack in Syria is "unacceptable" for Moscow and based on "fake information", Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, based on totally fake information, the United States, France and Great Britain have once again planted - one cannot put it any other way - into the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution which has a completely anti-Syrian character," the RIA Novosti agency quoted Zakharova as saying. The resolution would exacerbate tensions within Syria and throughout the region, she said. Zakharova was also quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying: "We do not believe it is expedient to pass a resolution on the chemical weapons attack in its present form." Washington, Paris and London have drawn up a draft U.N. Security Council statement condemning the attack and demanding an investigation. Russia has the power to veto it, as it has done to block all previous resolutions that would harm Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has suggested it would publicly stand by Assad and says the chemical incident which killed scores of people was likely caused by a leak from a depot controlled by Syrian rebels. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier told reporters Russia would argue at the United Nations that the rebels were to blame for the chemical contamination. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; writing by Sujata Rao; Editing by Christian Lowe and Janet Lawrence)