US accuses Russia of using UN council for 'disinformation' amid war in Ukraine
India Today
The US accused Russia of using a UN Security Council meeting for "lying and spreading disinformation” against Ukraine.
The United States accused Russia of using a UN Security Council meeting Friday for "lying and spreading disinformation” as part of a potential false-flag operation by Moscow for the use of chemical or biological agents in Ukraine.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia was playing out a scenario put forth in the council last month by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken — that President Vladimir Putin would “fabricate allegations about chemical or biological weapons to justify its own violent attacks against the Ukrainian people.”
“The intent behind these lies seems clear, and is deeply troubling,” she said. “We believe Russia could use chemical or biological agents for assassinations, as part of a staged or false-flag incident, or to support tactical military operations.”
The United States has warned about such Russian operations in conjunction with an invasion, which began Feb. 24.
Russia had requested the meeting to address its allegations of US “biological activities” in Ukraine — a charge made without any evidence and denied by both Washington and Kyiv.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said its Defense Ministry had documents charging that Ukraine has at least 30 biological laboratories carrying out “very dangerous biological experiments” involving pathogens, and its work “is being done and funded and supervised by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the United States."
Ukraine does have a network of biological labs that have gotten funding and research support from the US — but they are owned and operated by Ukraine and are part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction Programme that aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or manmade.
