US planning to accuse Moscow of using nuclear, bioweapons on Ukraine: Russian MoD

The United States is planning to accuse Russia of using tactical nuclear and biological weapons against Ukraine claimed Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD). Speaking at a press briefing earlier on Saturday, the head of Russian Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, Igor Kirillov, stated that the Washington-led provocations are imminent in the coming days. He added the allegations will come in response to the "successfully" conducted invasion of Ukraine.

Russia will be "blamed" for carrying out attacks using weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), including chemical weapons. He added that the US has developed at least three scenarios to accuse Russia, with provocations most likely in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Zaporizhzhia, as quoted by Sputnik.

Further, Kirillov claimed that the US State Department has determined the process for a subsequent probe. The General went on to add that the US official appointed to investigate Russia will indulge in the rapid seizure of evidence at the "planned" scenes.

Did Russia use chemical weapons?

Kirillov's comments come after Western nations, on April 11, recorded an incident of the use of a chemical weapon in Mariupol. Members of far-right Azov nationalists in Ukraine claimed that Russia has fired chemical weapons in the besieged city of Mariupol, injuring a number of its fighters. Thick "white smoke" was emitted from the device dropped by Russian forces, members of the battalion said. Although not so severe, injuries from the incident included skin and lung damage.

The US and UK immediately initiated an investigation to authenticate the claims of chemical weapons used in Mariupol. Even the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is monitoring the situation.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had condemned the reports, further warning that the use of such WMDs "would be a callous escalation in this conflict." Russia, however, remained persistent in its denial, in turn accusing Ukraine of housing bio laboratories with support from the US.

Does Russia actually have chemical weapons?

According to experts, there could be two possible explanations for the "white smoke" that Ukrainian forces reported on the event of the Russian strike. One is that the attack was indeed from a chemical bomb that attacked skin and organ linings.

Another possibility is that it was just another chemical used in the industrial region of Mariupol which produced fumes on exposure to open air. Nevertheless, this does not rule out the possibility of chemical weapon possession by Russia. As per US President Joe Biden, Russian rhetoric of Ukraine hiding chemical labs is a "clear sign" that Putin wanted to tap on bio-warfare.

On the other hand, while Russia had claimed to have destroyed its chemical weapons arsenal, the use of differential nerve agents used on Sergei Shkripal in 2018 and then on Alexei Navalny in 2020 suggested that Russia might still possess the nerve agents. Apart from the threats of chemical weapons, possibilities of unpredictable hazards also loom with increased Russian activity in the Chernobyl power plant, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in the world.

(Image: AP)