MOSCOW, Apr 23 — RIA Novosti. The Defense Ministry has information that the United States is preparing provocations in Ukraine to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction — chemical, biological or nuclear, said Igor Kirillov, head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces.
"This plan has already been developed and is a reaction to Russia's success in conducting a special military operation," he said.
Three scenarios
According to Kirillov, three scenarios are already ready for the prosecution of Russia.
"The first — a staged incident under a false flag — is the most likely," the general said.
In this case, he explained, we can talk about the real use of chemical and biological weapons with victims among the population or about staging "sabotage" by Russia — for example, at chemical and biological facilities in Kharkiv and Kiev.
Provocation is also possible at nuclear power facilities, primarily at the Zaporozhye NPP, Kirillov added, noting that on April 21 a convoy of ten cars with dangerous cargo was stopped there and sent back to Zaporozhye.
Strikes on the storage of radioactive waste at the former Pridnestrovian chemical plant in Kamenskoye (Dnipropetrovsk region) are also possible. According to Kirillov, the Ministry of Defense has a document confirming the critical condition of the storage facilities and the misuse of funds allocated by the European Union for the maintenance of this facility.
The second option is "the most covert use of weapons of mass destruction in small volumes to suppress the will and ability to resist within the framework of solving a specific operational task," the general continued. He stressed that this scenario was supposed to be applied at the Mariupol Azovstal plant, but the order of Vladimir Putin, who canceled the storming of the enterprise, disrupted plans for its implementation.
Kirillov called the third option the least likely: "The open use of weapons of mass destruction on the battlefield in case of failure to succeed with conventional weapons," most likely in a combat zone. This scenario is being considered for Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, which have been turned into fortress cities, the general explained.
"Fabricate evidence"
The probability that the United States will stage the use of chemical weapons is confirmed by the facts of the supply of antidotes of toxic substances to Ukraine — more than 220 thousand ampoules with atropine were delivered there this year alone, Kirillov said. According to him, this testifies to the purposeful preparation of provocations with toxic substances of nerve-paralytic action.
In addition, the general said, the State Department has already determined the procedure for investigating cases of the use of weapons of mass destruction. So, for chemical incidents, it is planned to use the attributive mechanism of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will allow to fabricate the necessary evidence and appoint the perpetrators at their discretion, as it was in Syria. The possible use of biological weapons will be investigated with the sanction of the UN Secretary General, who determines the composition of the expert group based on his own preferences.
The head of the RCBZ troops recalled that Russia completely destroyed its chemical arsenal back in 2017, which was confirmed by the OPCW. At the same time, the United States remains the only country party to the Chemical Weapons Convention that still has an impressive supply of chemical warfare agents.
The general called the statement of the CIA director about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine absurd. He noted that with the current level of technical equipment of the international nuclear test monitoring system, it would be impossible to conceal the use of such weapons.
"If the director of the CIA does not understand this, then he is either a layman or he is being misled," Kirillov added.
In addition, the programs for the creation of biological weapons in the USSR were curtailed in 1972, while the United States retained the norms in national legislation allowing for the possibility of carrying out such work. At the same time, 336 laboratories in 30 countries are under Washington's control, and this causes serious concern, the head of the RCBZ troops stressed.
Ampoules from a drone
Kirillov also drew attention to the fact that in early March, the Russian military found three drones with equipment for spraying aerosols in the Kherson region. The Ministry of Defense has information that back in January Ukraine purchased more than 50 such devices through intermediaries and that it sent a request to the Turkish company Bayraktar about the possibility of equipping its devices with similar equipment.
And on April 21, a container with ampoules was dropped from a UAV on the positions of Russian troops, the general said. According to him, it was planned that when they were destroyed, an explosion would occur with the release of toxic substances not included in the convention lists. Now the contents of the ampoules are being analyzed in the laboratory of the Ministry of Defense, and then the results will be sent to the OPCW technical secretariat.
At the same time, the United States remains the only country in world history that has used all three types of weapons of mass destruction, but all these crimes have remained without proper assessment by international organizations, Kirillov noted.
On February 24, Russia launched a military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. According to President Vladimir Putin, its goal is "to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years."
As stated by the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and have already significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main task in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
