The US warned Wednesday of the potential for Russia to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, saying the United States does not “possess such weapons anywhere.”
In a series of tweets, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Russia falsely claimed that the US has biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development facilities in Ukraine, claims which she said were echoed by Chinese officials.
"This is preposterous," said Psaki, adding that "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.”
"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 wrote.
The warning comes in response to claims by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said that documents suggest "components of bioweapons were being developed in Ukraine."
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday warned of the potential for Russia to use chemical weapons in Ukraine after Moscow alleged the United States was housing biological weapons in Ukrainian territory.
ReplyDeletePsaki called the claim from Russia "false" and "preposterous," and she warned it could serve as a pretext for the Russians to deploy chemical weapons in their assault on Ukraine.
"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 said in a statement.