U.S. -Russia Cross-Accusations of Possible Use of Chemical or Biological Weapons in Ukraine

Between the U.S. and Russia has occurred in the last few hours what could be a ‘crossroads of accusations’. The United States has warned that Russia might be planning the use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, although it had previously been Russia that had accused Washington of financing a supposed biological-military program developed in Ukraine.

According to the United States, Russia could plan the use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine under the pretext of responding to an alleged threat in the country that would be “false”.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki has responded with a warning to Russian allegations that the United States is funding an alleged biological-military program developed in Ukraine: “Now that Russia has made these false accusations, and that China seems to have backed that propaganda, we should all be alert to the possibility of Russia using chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine,” she said via her Twitter account.

She added that Moscow could use such weapons as part of “a false flag operation,” referring to a war tactic in which a warring party commits an act by making it appear that it was the other party that has done it.

The spokeswoman reacted to the Russian government’s claims of the discovery in Ukraine of evidence of an “emergency elimination” of traces of an alleged biological-military program. The spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, explained that employees of these biological laboratories allegedly reported the destruction of dangerous pathogens such as plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera or other deadly diseases on 24 February.

The UN has said it has no record of illegal chemical and biological weapons programs in Ukraine, and Psaki catalogued the accusations as “false” and “ridiculous”.