The constant accusations by Vladimir Putin’s government that the US was using Ukraine as a territory for chemical weapons tests – something Washington described as absurd – reached the UN Security Council, which, at Moscow’s request, discussed the matter in session this Friday (11).
Joe Biden’s government has repeatedly denied that it is operating biological weapons laboratories in the country and argues that the Russian president uses the complaint as a “false flag”, a strategy in which the accuser blamed the accused for an attack he himself committed. The next act is to use this justification to act with the same coin, in an action with devices of the type.
During the session, Russian diplomacy claimed to have documents that would prove the existence of 30 laboratories in which biological weapons would be developed on Ukrainian territory, in cities such as the capital Kiev and Odessa, an important port area. In them, pathogens that cause diseases such as cholera and tularemia would be stored and developed.
The spaces would also be part of a military program introduced by Kiev with support from the US government, and the idea would be to spread the pathogens through hosts such as bats and migratory birds, claimed the Russian representative to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia.
The diplomat said hundreds of containers from the chemical weapons program were located by Russian agents, many near the border between the two countries. He also urged the European Union (EU), a bloc that Ukraine aims to integrate, to act: “Next to you are laboratories testing biological weapons that could culminate in an uncontrolled spread, as was the case with the coronavirus.”
The allegations were again described as a false flag by the US. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US representative to the UN, retorted that Moscow is trying to use the Security Council to legitimize an unfounded claim and thus create a basis for support for Putin’s action in Ukraine.
“Russia has a history of accusing countries of committing violations that it is committing,” he said. “And we strongly believe that Russia, an ally of Bashar al-Assad’s regime who uses chemical weapons from Syria for years, also plans to use chemical weapons in Ukraine.”
According to Greenfield, the US has cooperation programs with Ukraine in the health area, but to advance the ability to detect diseases, such as Covid, which is worrying in the country.
The US representative supported herself on the seal given by the United Nations. At the opening of the meeting, Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, said that the organization is not aware of any chemical and biological weapons programs underway in Ukraine.
Research, production and storage of such devices have been banned since 1972 by the Biological Weapons Convention, a treaty signed by 183 nations since then — Russia and Ukraine are part of the pact. The convention has its own provisions for member countries to raise concerns about the development of biological weapons by other members, but they have been little used so far.
Nakamitsu, dismissing the Russian accusation, said he was “seriously concerned” about the situation at the Chernobyl and Zaporijia nuclear plants, the largest in Europe, taken over by Russian troops. “Any accident involving the plants would have serious consequences for the population and the environment. It is necessary that those in control of the structures ensure their maintenance and safe operation.”
Other humanitarian concerns were highlighted at the session, with the United Nations updating the war’s figures. The most recent data show that at least 564 civilians died in the conflict and 26 health facilities were attacked, leading to the death of 12 people. More than a thousand were injured.
The UN also said it had evidence of the use of cluster bombs by Russia, artifacts designed so that, when detonated on the ground, they fragment into small bombs that are dispersed in a wide area where they remain permanently active. Humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross began sending extra teams to help the population remove weapons from the territory.
Countries such as France, Norway and the United Kingdom have rejected the Russian claims. Like the US, they said that the arguments and the convening of the meeting had the sole purpose of distracting the international community from Russian attacks in Ukraine, already in the third week.
Brazil, a rotating member of the Security Council, had been raising its tone against Russian action, but did not condemn the allegations. Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho used his speech to criticize the use of biological weapons, although he did not condemn the action of Russian diplomacy, and affirmed that the mechanisms of the 1972 convention need to be strengthened. “Brazil believes that any accusation of production or use of biological weapons is extremely worrying and must be presented with solid information.”
The session also repeated the formula observed since the beginning of the war: China, India and the United Arab Emirates, Russia’s allies in diplomatic forums and dependent on armaments, limited themselves to saying that they condemn the use of biological weapons. China, by the way, has upped the ante in relation to the US. He said he received with concern the information presented by Russian diplomacy and criticized the US, which, said Chinese representative Zhang Jun, would have more than 300 biological weapons laboratories around the world.
Beijing also welcomed the meeting between Russian foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian foreign minister Dmitro Kuleba in Turkey on Thursday. The conversation had no practical result, however. Zhang Jun, however, said he saw it as another positive step towards achieving peace.
Although Ukraine is not a member of the council, the body invited the country to send a representative to the meeting. Sergi Kislitsia said he regretted that space was used by Moscow for manipulation and, briefly denying possession of chemical weapons, used speech to list the humanitarian chaos.
A sensitive point was the attack on a maternity hospital on Wednesday (9), which, according to the country’s authorities, left three dead and 17 injured. Nebenzia, the Russian representative, again denied Russian responsibility for the attack. He said the photo of a pregnant woman injured at the time, which appeared in different newspapers, was fake.
In response, Kislitsia showed a photo of the woman she said is called Mariana. She would have given birth on Thursday night. The child, Veronica, would be fine. The diplomat took the opportunity to ask for international help.
