Standing alongside visiting Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Moscow on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin rejected allegations that the Syrian government recently used chemical weapons to kill more than 70 civilians in the province of Idlib, and said the White House’s military response resembles the events of 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq on unfounded claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Putin also warned that anti-government forces in Syria are preparing “provocations” using chemical weapons, intending to blame Damascus, in order to invite more U.S. airstrikes against government targets. The Russian president said these false-flag operations are being planned in Damascus and other areas across the country.

“We have information from different sources that similar provocations — this is the only word for it — are being prepared in different regions of Syria, including in the southern suburbs of Damascus, where they’re planning to spread some kind of substance and blame Syrian officials for using it,” Putin said.