Rejecting the allegations made by Russia about the presence of US-funded chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, the State Department on Wednesday said the Kremlin is spreading lies about such illegal activities in the eastern European country.
This comes after Russia said it has obtained evidence that the regime in Kyiv had urgently eliminated all traces of the US-funded military biological program in Ukraine.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov on Wednesday said Ukrainian laboratories' staffers testified last month that a number of dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, cholera and other deadly diseases were urgently disposed of.
"The Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine. We have also seen PRC (China) officials echo these conspiracy theories," the US State Department said in a statement in response to allegations made by Russia.
The State Department responded by saying that "this Russian disinformation is total nonsense" and not the first time Russia has invented such false claims against another country. "Also, these claims have been debunked conclusively and repeatedly over many years."
"As we have said all along, Russia is inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine. The United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine, it is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and it does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere," the State Department added.
On the contrary, the United States alleged Russia has active chemical and biological weapons programs and is in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention.
( With inputs from ANI )
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