White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday the Biden administration will be actively monitoring for Russia to use biological or chemical weapons in Ukraine after Vladimir Putin accused the West of harboring a biological weapons program in the country.
Russia sparked a firestorm this week when it alleged that American labs were researching biological weapons in Ukraine. As Breitbart News profiled:
The Foreign Ministry of Russia claimed on Tuesday that the nation’s military had “confirmed” the existence of American-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine used for developing “biological weapons.”
Russian troops reportedly found “documentation” showing Ukrainian scientists destroying evidence of “plague, anthrax, rabbit-fever, cholera and other lethal diseases” studied in the country’s laboratories on February 24, according to a statement from Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova, as part of their ongoing assault on the country.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland confirmed in a Congressional hearing on Tuesday that “biological research facilities” were in Ukraine and feared that Russia could take control.
“Ukraine has biological research facilities which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach,” she said.
On Wednesday, Psaki issued a lengthy statement on Twitter rebuking Russia’s “conspiracy theories,” asserting that the United States has been in “full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.
“It’s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin’s political enemies like Alexey Navalny,” Psaki said.
“It’s Russia that continues to support the Assad regime in Syria, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons. It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law,” she continued. “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 U.S. of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine.”
Psaki asserted that Russia was setting the stage for a biological chemical weapons attack that could be a “false flag operation.”
“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,” she concluded.
We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022
The United States is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022
It’s Russia that continues to support the Assad regime in Syria, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons. It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022
This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022
Story cited here.