Russia slams Amnesty, says Syria war crimes report 'fabricated'

Russia has hit back at a human rights report accusing it of committing war crimes in Syria, dubbing it “politically-motivated and fabricated”.

Amnesty International released a report on Wednesday presenting what it said is hard evidence that Russia has violated international law during its air campaign in Syria by hitting targets like medical facilities and a busy market.

The report documents the deaths of hundreds of civilians, and around a dozen fighters, in Russian air strikes launched since September.

Some attacks "appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities", said Amnesty's Middle East director Philip Luther.

"Such attacks may amount to war crimes," he said, adding that it "is crucial that suspected violations are independently and impartially investigated".

The spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, told a press conference in Moscow on Thursday that the report was “politically-motivated and fabricated”.

Zakharova criticised the human rights organisation for using unidentified sources in the report, saying it relied on “false data".