NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that Russia may use chemical weapons after its invasion of Ukraine. According to him, such a move would be a war crime. This he revealed in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
"In the last few days, we have heard absurd claims about chemical and biological weapons laboratories," Stoltenberg was quoted as saying by Welt am Sonntag by Reuters.
He added that the Kremlin creates false pretexts to justify what cannot be justified.
"Now that these false claims have been made, we must remain vigilant because there is a possibility that Russia itself could plan chemical weapons operations under this fabricated lie. That would be a war crime," Stoltenberg said.
He also said that although the Ukrainian people resisted the Russian invasion bravely, the days ahead are likely to bring even greater difficulties.
Citing CNBC, there are growing concerns that Russia could be preparing to use chemical weapons to attack Ukraine.
Western officials and strategists warn that the threat posed by Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin in this regard is credible and serious.
In the last week, Russia itself accused Ukraine of operating a chemical and biological weapons laboratory backed by the US. The claim was vehemently rejected by Ukrainian and Western officials, with the US describing it as a "big lie".
“Russia has a track record of accusing the West of crimes committed by Russia itself. This tactic is a clear tactic by Russia to try to justify a further premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement last week.
“The United States does not own or operate chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine… It is Russia that has an active chemical and biological weapons program and violates the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention,” he added.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday that such an act would amount to a war crime.
"Now that these false claims have been made, we must remain vigilant because there is a possibility that Russia itself could plan chemical weapons operations under this fabrication of lies," Stoltenberg told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
While the West has been united in its condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Britain describing the Putin regime as "barbaric," how far the US and its NATO allies are willing to go to support Ukraine, and stop Russia, is debatable.
NATO has repeatedly ruled out any form of military support, such as a no-fly zone pleaded by Ukraine, that could bring it into direct confrontation with Russian nuclear power.
But Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview Sunday that Russia's use of chemical weapons in Ukraine could change Western calculus for the conflict.
"Of course, everyone hoped he wouldn't dare to do that but ... if he used any weapon of mass destruction then this would be a whole game changer," he told the BBC's Sophie Raworth Sunday.
He added, "NATO has to think seriously about what to do because then it starts to be dangerous not only for Europe but the whole world."
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