The United States has denied Russian claims that Washington is operating biowarfare laboratories in Ukraine, calling the allegations “preposterous” and warning that Moscow might seek to use chemical or biological weapons during its ongoing offensive on its neighboring country.
The U.S. denial on Wednesday came hours after Russia renewed its accusations that Washington was working with Kyiv to develop biological weapons in the vicinity of the Ukraine-Russia border, Al Jazeera reports.
Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, called the Russian claim “preposterous” in a series of posts on Twitter and said it was Moscow “that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons”.
These included the “attempted assassinations and poisoning of” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political enemies like the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, she said.
Now that Russia has made these claims, she added, “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.”
In a statement, Ned Price, spokesperson for the Department of State, accused Russia of “inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine” and said Washington was “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”.
