AT LEAST 40 members of pseudo-humanitarian group the White Helmets have admitted to staging chemical attacks in Syria, according to a new study by a Russian think tank.

Spokesman Maxim Grigoriev unveiled the results of the Foundation for the Study of Democracy’s research, which purported to show the group had faked attacks to provoke a reaction against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We have interviewed 40 members of the White Helmets, including those from Douma, who provided a detailed description of their methods commonly used by their organisation to fake scenes,” he said.