Not even in retaliation: USA: Will not use chemical weapons

Not even in retaliation
USA: Will not use chemical weapons

3/25/2022, 5:14 p.m

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy fears a Russian chemical weapons attack. Moscow denies the allegation. Meanwhile, the White House says it will definitely refrain from using chemical weapons. Even if the Kremlin were to get serious about it.

According to national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the United States will “under no circumstances” use chemical weapons, not even in the event of a Russian chemical weapons use in Ukraine. Russia will pay a “high price” in this case, Sullivan told journalists on board the US presidential plane Air Force One. “I’ll just say this much: The United States has no intention of using chemical weapons. Period. Under no circumstances.”

There is some rapprochement between Western leaders about what action would be taken if Russian chemical weapons were used, Sullivan said. The White House has formed a working group for this purpose. “We have made considerable efforts to put ourselves in a position to respond effectively,” the US national security adviser said. He made the statement shortly before Air Force One landed in Poland with US President Joe Biden on board.

Kremlin: Washington wants to distract from biolabs

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in a video call with G7 leaders on Thursday about the “real” danger that Russia could use chemical weapons on a large scale in Ukraine. Biden warned Moscow against such a move. NATO will “answer” if Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin uses such weapons in Ukraine.

Russia has denied allegations that it was planning a chemical weapons attack. The US only wanted to use its claims to distract from secret biological laboratories that it operated in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the TASS agency. Russia has been claiming for weeks that the US has secret laboratories for the development of biological weapons in Ukraine. Washington strictly rejects this. International fact-checkers have already refuted claims about an alleged network of such laboratories.