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Russia-Ukraine war: The US Department of State on Wednesday rejected the allegations made by Russia about the presence of US-funded chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, noting that Kremlin is spreading lies about such illegal activities in the eastern European country.
“The Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine. We have also seen PRC officials echo these conspiracy theories. This Russian disinformation is total nonsense and not the first time Russia has invented such false claims against another country. Also, these claims have been debunked conclusively and repeatedly over many years," the US Department of State said in its release.
This comes in the wake of Russia claiming that it has obtained evidence that the regime in Kyiv had urgently eliminated all traces of the US-funded military biological program in Ukraine. Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov on Wednesday said Ukrainian laboratories' staffers testified last month that a number of dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, cholera and other deadly diseases were urgently disposed of.
"As we have said all along, Russia is inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine. The United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine, it is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and it does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere," the State Department added.
On the contrary, the United States alleged Russia has active chemical and biological weapons programs and is in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention.
The Biden administration publicly warned Wednesday (local time) that Russia might seek to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine. White House press secretary Jen Psaki warned of the potential use of chemical weapons in Ukraine after Moscow alleged the United States was housing biological weapons in Ukrainian territory.
Psaki rubbished the claim and said Russia's allegations are "false" and "preposterous." She further warned it could serve as a pretext for the Russians to deploy chemical weapons in their assault on Ukraine.
In a series of Tweets, the spokeswoman noted that the false claim that the US has biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development facilities in Ukraine was also echoed by Chinese officials.
"This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine. Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It's a clear pattern," Psaki said.
"It's the kind of disinformation operation we've seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent," Psaki wrote.
"Also, Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating. In December, Russia falsely accused the US of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine," she continued.
(With inputs from agencies)
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