MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Belgian Defense Ministry's attempt to divert attention to the October 18 airstrikes on Hassajek village near Aleppo "using deliberately poor excuses causes deep perplexity," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Friday.
"This suggests either a lack of understanding by [Belgian Defense Minister Steven] Vandeput of the document provided by Russia, or the US Central Command's desire… to avoid responsibility for the deaths of six Syrian civilians in the bombing," he said.
"Only a transparent and objective investigation with US allies' objective monitoring data of Syrian airspace on October 18 could prove the real commitment to understand the actions of the Belgian Air Force and identify those responsible for the bombing of the Kurdish village of Hassajek."
Russia has provided Belgium with comprehensive data on the ground proving that Belgian Air Force jets struck a Syrian village near Aleppo this week, Konashenkov said.
"The Russian Defense Ministry presented comprehensive data of objective control over Syrian airspace to Belgium, proving that Belgian Air Force jets struck the Kurdish village of Hassajek on October 18," Konashenkov said.
He added that the ministry had forwarded a minute-by-minute account of the strike that led to six deaths to their Belgian counterparts.
The Belgian authorities have denied that the country's warplanes bombed Hassajek despite the fact that the Russian Defense Ministry provided the Belgian envoy with detailed information on the deadly strike.
