Hearing Comes A Day After Council Examines Syria’s Chemical Weapons
March 11, 2022–With the sheer amount of devastation Ukraine is undergoing under the hand of the Russian military, it’s hard to imagine it may get worse. But the possibility of more terror arose this week at the mention of chemical weapons.
Today, the UN Security Council met at Russia’s request after Russian diplomats accused Ukraine of having bio-labs in the country. It also came a day after the council heard remarks from a UN representative about Syria’s chemical weapons program.
Wild Accusations By Russia Pose Concerns For U.S., Ukraine
Specifically, Russian diplomats asserted that Ukraine is producing bioweapons with the support of the United States. On Tuesday, State Department Official Victoria Nuland failed to quell those rumors when asked about it at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
While rumors are concerning, the greater risk is that the Russian military would launch a chemical weapons attack on the people in Ukraine, while blaming Ukraine and the United States. Russia has a pattern of asserting one thing as being attributable to someone else right before it carries the act out.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy denied the accusation.
UN Representative
“I am aware of media reports regarding allegations of biological weapons programs,” said High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu. “The United Nations is not aware of any biological weapons programs.”
Ms. Nakamitsu added in her testimony that both Russia and Ukraine are parties to the 1972 Convention on Biological Weapons. Finally, she expressed concern about safety and security at nuclear energy facilities at Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhya.
“The possibility of an accident caused by failure to a reactor’s power supply or the inability to provide regular maintenance is growing by the day,” she said.
DOD Statement
The U.S. Defense Department put out a statement saying, “There are no DOD bio-weapon labs in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.” The department went on to say that in Kyiv, there are five biological research laboratories that focus on “diagnostics, therapeutics, treatments, prevention, and vaccines.”
Syrian Chemical Weapons
Meanwhile, the Syrian government continues to evade inspections after 10 years of publically acknowledging it has chemical weapons. Russia is closely aligned with the Syrian government, and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently requested military help from Syrian fighters.
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