US allegations that the Russian military may use chemical weapons in Ukraine is yet another attempt to demonize Russia, says Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov. So he commented on the statement of the representative of the State Department, Ned Price, who did not rule out that Russia could use chemical weapons during the military operation in Ukraine.
During a briefing on March 11, Mr. Price was asked if the United States believed that the Russian military might use chemical weapons. He answered in the affirmative: “Firstly, we know the history, we know the Kremlin’s track record. This is a government that used banned chemicals against its own citizens. They did it in Russia, in Great Britain. They support the brutal Assad regime, which has used banned chemicals against its citizens. So we know what this government can do.” The State Department spokesman added that the Russian authorities are also using “tactics.”
Anatoly Antonov believes that “such accusations are worthless.” According to him, the American official “did not bother to provide any evidence.” “This is another attempt to demonize our country… Our country, unlike the United States, in 2017 eliminated all available stocks of chemical warfare agents. This fact has been documented by the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). It is pointless to argue with this,” the ambassador said in a statement published on Telegram.
On February 24, Vladimir Putin announced a military operation to “denazify and demilitarize” Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense and the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that Ukraine was allegedly developing biological weapons with US support. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied allegations that his country is developing any weapons of mass destruction. US National Intelligence said it had no data on the development of biological or nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Read about the course of the Russian military operation in the material “Kommersant”.