The United States has dismissed Russia's claims that Washington is operating biowarfare laboratories in Ukraine, calling the allegations "absurd" and warning that Moscow may seek to use chemical or biological weapons during its ongoing offensive in its neighbor.
The U.S. response came hours after Russia repeated its accusations that Washington is working with Kiev to develop biological weapons in the Ukraine-Russia border region.
In a series of Twitter posts, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the Russian allegations "absurd" and said Moscow is "one that has a long and well-documented history of chemical weapons use."
These include "attempts to assassinate and poison" political enemies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, such as Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Psaki said. "Now that Russia has made these allegations, we should all be on alert for possible chemical or biological weapons use in Ukraine or a disinformation operation," he noted."
State Department and Pentagon denounce Russia's claims
The Russian claims were also denounced by the US State Department and the Pentagon. In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price accused Russia of "inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine" and said Washington "fully complies with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention, and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere."
For his part, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called the Russian accusations "absurd," "ridiculous" and "malicious." "There is nothing. It's classic Russian propaganda," he told reporters."
Johnson fears Russia could use chemicals
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved in a similar vein in remarks today, saying he feared Russia could develop chemical weapons in Ukraine.
"What you hear about chemical weapons is part of their plan," Mr. Johnson said in an interview with Sky News, to be broadcast overnight."
Indeed, B. Johnson said that what has been heard from the Russians about Ukrainian or American intentions for a chemical attack in Donbass comes "straight out of their playbook."
Russia: Ukraine moves to delete evidence
Ukraine has also in turn rejected the Russian claims, with a spokesman for President Volodymyr Zelensky saying Kiev "strictly denies any such allegation".
There has been no response from Moscow so far.
Earlier Wednesday, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman called on Washington to disclose information about its illegal activities in Ukraine.
In particular, Maria Zakharova said that Russia possesses documents showing that the Ukrainian Health Ministry had ordered the destruction of samples of plague, cholera, anthrax and other pathogens before February 24, when Russian forces entered Ukraine.
Zakharova said the documents discovered by Russian forces in Ukraine show "an urgent attempt to delete evidence of military biological programs" funded by the Pentagon.
"It can be concluded that biological weapons components were developed in Ukrainian bio-labs located near our border. The extraordinary destruction of dangerous pathogens on February 24 was a necessary step aimed at hiding the fact that Ukraine and the US had violated Article 1 of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention," he added.
Κίνα: US has 336 labs in 30 countries
Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that "the US has under its control 336 labs in 30 countries, of which 26 are in Ukraine alone." It also called on the US "to give a full account of its biological military activities at home and abroad and undergo multilateral verification."
However, when asked about Russia and China's allegations, a UN spokesman said the world body "has no information to confirm reports of these kinds of laboratories."
"Our colleagues at the World Health Organization working with the Ukrainian government have said they are not aware of any activity on the part of the Ukrainian government that is inconsistent with its international treaty obligations, including chemical or biological weapons," UN spokesman Stefan Dizarik said.
US officials accused China of "echoing" Moscow's "conspiracy theories."
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