Russia’s announcement in the Security Council that it had discovered on Friday, March 11, a network of research laboratories for bacteriological weapons in Ukraine, caused indignation among Westerners who condemned “unfounded accusations” and “irresponsible provocations.” Some countries fear that Moscow has hinted at the next chapter of this war and is using this pretext to use biochemical weapons.
Live from March 12: the latest information about the war in Ukraine
The Russian ambassador to the UN clarified what his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said the day before: “A network of thirty laboratories” in which “very dangerous experiments” are carried out should have been discovered by Russian soldiers on Ukrainian soil. Vasily Nebenzya. The diplomat claims that strains of diseases such as plague or cholera, as well as products such as anthrax, have been identified there. He claims that these laboratories worked with the US Department of Defense.
Vasily Nebenzya could have sowed doubts if the US Secretary of State had not disclosed the Russian scenario in advance. Before the same Security Council on February 17th, Anthony Blinken suggested that Russia could use the discovery of biochemical weapons in Ukraine as an excuse to justify its own chemical bombardments.
“Conspiracy Theories”
“The claims about weapons of mass destruction should be taken seriously, but they are part of the Russian information war,” Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha countered. They are false, meaningless, akin to ordinary Russian propaganda and disinformation. These are conspiracy theories that don’t deserve to be wasted our time. »
“This disinformation campaign could be a prelude to the use of Russian-organized chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine,” French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere is concerned. Before recalling that Moscow has already carried out chemical attacks in Europe – in particular, by poisoning Russia’s opponent Alexei Navalny. And that Russia covered up with its disinformation the chemical attacks of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
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The Russian mission shared with the members of the Security Council project documents developed jointly with American researchers, a copy of which came into the possession of Le Monde. If indeed there are Ukrainian laboratories supported financially by the United States, then this partnership, which originated in 1993 in the context of combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the post-Soviet space, is no secret. “This is a job that has been done with pride, clarity and broad daylight,” said US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. It has nothing to do with biological weapons. »