The United States dismisses Russian allegations of biowarfare laboratories in Ukraine.

PAROMITA DAS

 Claims and counter-claims about various happenings in Ukraine appear to be common in the world nowadays.

On Wednesday, the United States (US) refuted Russian allegations that it was running biowarfare facilities in Ukraine. The assertions were deemed “laughable” by the organization.

It also hinted that Moscow may be establishing the framework for the use of a biological or chemical weapon.

For numerous years, Russia has accused the US of collaborating with Ukrainian facilities to create biological weapons.

Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry’s spokesman, reiterated this claim on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stated, “The Russian charges are ludicrous, laughable, and, in the words of my Irish Catholic grandpa, a load of nonsense. There isn’t anything to it. It’s typical Russian propaganda.”

Russia, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price, “is fabricating bogus pretexts in an attempt to explain its own horrible conduct in Ukraine.”

“It’s Russia that has a lengthy and well-documented track record of deploying chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin’s political adversaries like Alexey Navalny,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted, highlighting Russia’s “false assertions.”

“This is all a clear effort by Russia to excuse its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustifiable aggression on Ukraine,” Psaki wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “Now that Russia has made these fraudulent allegations, and China appears to have backed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to deploy chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to stage a false flag operation with them.”

For months, the US has warned of Russian “false flag” activities intended to establish a pretext for an invasion. The warning on Wednesday hinted that Russia may be attempting to establish a pretext for further escalation of the two-week-old conflict, which has seen the Russian onslaught stalled but not stopped by stronger-than-expected Ukrainian defenses.

Dmitry Chumakov, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, reiterated the charge on Wednesday, encouraging Western media to broadcast “the news concerning covert biological laboratories in Ukraine.”

The Pentagon’s press secretary, John Kirby, termed the Russian assertion “a bunch of malarkey” on Wednesday.

For years, the Western world has suspected Russia of using chemical weapons in murder attempts against Putin foes such as Alexey Navalny and former spy Sergei Skripal. Russia also backs Syria’s Assad government, which has used chemical weapons against its own people during a decade-long civil war.

When asked about the assertions by a Russian journalist, UN spokesman StephaneDujarric stated. “At this time, we do not have any information to confirm these reports or allegations concerning these types of labs.”

“Our World Health Organization colleagues who have been working with the Ukrainian Governments indicated they are unaware of any behaviour on the side of the Ukrainian Government that is inconsistent with its international treaty commitments, particularly on chemical or biological weapons,” Dujarric added.

Russia has a long history of spreading misinformation regarding biological weapons research in the United States. Russian intelligence promoted the conspiracy theory that the United States manufactured HIV in a lab in the 1980s. Recently, Russian official media have disseminated rumors about harmful research being conducted at facilities in Ukraine and Georgia.