( CNN ) -- New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez felt sick after reading it . The White House says it is `` irrelevant '' to Russia 's proposal for Syria to hand over chemical weapons . Certainly , Russian President Vladimir Putin 's direct appeal to the American people over the Syria crisis has prompted a flurry of commentary in response . But do his claims stack up ? We take a look at some of the most contentious claims in Putin 's New York Times opinion piece . From the outset , Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future . Not exactly . Russia has continued to supply the al-Assad regime with military hardware including attack helicopters , air defense systems , and military advisers . No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria . But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian army but by opposition forces to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons , who would be siding with the fundamentalists . Not according to the U.S. , Britain and others who claim the evidence is clear that Bashar al-Assad 's forces were behind the attack . `` We assess that the scenario in which the opposition executed the attack on August 21 is highly unlikely , '' a White House statement said . `` The body of information used to make this assessment includes intelligence pertaining to the regime 's preparations for this attack and its means of delivery , multiple streams of intelligence about the attack itself and its effect , our post-attack observations , and the differences between the capabilities of the regime and the opposition . '' Britain agrees , with Prime Minister David Cameron saying last week that there was `` further '' evidence that al-Assad 's forces used chemical weapons , after research by the UK military laboratories in Porton Down suggested that traces of sarin gas in the soil and on clothing taken from a patient who was treated near an alleged attack were unlikely to have been faked . Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force . Putin 's condemnation of brute force sits uneasily with Moscow 's own track record of force during a conflict with Chechen separatists that claimed tens of thousands of lives , many of them civilians . In 1999 , Putin took to the New York Times opinion page to defend Russian action in Chechnya , arguing that `` decisive armed intervention was the only way to prevent further casualties both within and far outside the borders of Chechnya . '' And Georgians wo n't have forgotten Russia 's invasion of their country five years ago last month , when Putin served as prime minister . My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust . Remember Edward Snowden ? Obama took office pledging a `` reset '' in ties with Moscow . But the famously awkward body language at the G8 summit in June was for many a sign of how that has gone . That was even before the former NSA contractor was granted asylum in Russia , despite American requests that he be extradited . And back in 2011 , Putin accused Obama 's then-secretary of state , Hillary Clinton , of encouraging opposition protests after parliamentary elections that December . Time for another reset ? We are all different , but when we ask for the Lord 's blessings , we must not forget that God created us equal . Russia 's gay community might not be feeling very equal right now . A vaguely worded anti-gay propaganda law was passed overwhelmingly in Parliament this year and signed into law by Putin . The law bans public discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere children might hear it . Those found in breach of it can be fined , or deported if they are foreigners . It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional , whatever the motivation . So `` unique '' is OK , then ? The Financial Times reported last year on a strategy document produced by a Kremlin commission that argued , `` Thanks to the unifying role of the Russian people ... a unique sociocultural civilisational community on the historical territory of the Russian state has formed : the multinational Russian nation . ''
Russian president makes appeal to American people in New York Times . He says poison gas was probably used by opposition , not Syrian army . But U.S. , Britain say evidence is clear that al-Assad forces were behind attack . Comment: