The U.N. Security Council will meet Friday due to Russia’s request to investigate claims that the United States has chemical and biological weapon labs in Ukraine.
Yes, but: The United States and Ukraine both deny these claims, per The Washington Post.
What Russia said: “Russian Mission asked for a meeting of #Security Council for 11 March to discuss the military biological activities of the US on the territory of #Ukraine,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said in a tweet Friday.
Russian Mission asked for a meeting of #SecurityCouncil for 11 March to discuss the military biological activities of the US on the territory of #Ukraine https://t.co/51LOJwi6zy
— Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) March 10, 2022
What the U.S. said: “This is exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack,” Olivia Dalton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said late Thursday, per The Associated Press. “We’re not going to let Russia gaslight the world or use the U.N. Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation.”
What Ukraine said: “No chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction were developed on my land. The whole world knows that,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Facebook post.
Be smart: Experts said that Russia’s claims may be a false flag operation. By making this claim, Russia would then use its own biological or chemical weaponry on Ukraine, per NBC News.
- “We do believe that we should be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons,” an unnamed U.S. administration official told NBC News.