Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement late Wednesday slamming the U.S. for its claim that the Assad regime is planning to conduct chemical attacks.

The claim is an opportunity of provocation for terrorists, the ministry said."[White House's] New implications of weapons of mass destruction is an invitation for terrorists, extremists and the armed opposition to exploit the situation and provoke their way to punish Assad at the end," the ministry said in the statement, criticizing White House spokesman Sean Spicer's remarks about the regime's plan.

Similar "scenarios" have been employed before in several countries like Iraq and Libya, the Russian foreign ministry said. "The US does not learn lessons from its mistakes," it added, calling upon the superpower to stay away from moves that may violate international law.

The White House warned Syria's Bashar al-Assad on Monday that he and his military would "pay a heavy price" if it conducted a chemical weapons attack and said the United States had reason to believe such preparations were underway.

The White House said in a statement released late on Monday that the preparations by the Syrian regime were similar to those undertaken before an April 4 chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians, which prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to order a cruise missile strike on a Syrian regime air base.