Vladimir Putin would be making a “grave mistake” if he used chemical weapons in his assault on Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday.
Western governments feared the Russian leader might resort to the use of the banned weapons as he fell to make the progress expected in conquering his neighbor.
Truss’ comments came as the UK stepped up its sanctions on oligarchs deemed to be close to the Putin regime, including Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
The UK had already accused the Russian government of war crimes, with the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol being the latest atrocity in the campaign.
“We absolutely believe that war crimes are being committed,” Truss said during a visit to the U.S.
The UK and U.S. feared Russia could go further and carry out a chemical attack, potentially under the cover of a “false flag” operation.
“We are very concerned about the potential use of chemical weapons.
“Now, of course, we’ve seen Russia use these weapons before in fields of conflict but that will be a grave mistake on the part of Russia, adding to the grave mistakes that have already been made by Putin.”
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the world should be “on the lookout” for the Russian use of chemical and biological weaponry.
She said “Russia’s false claims” about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine could be “an obvious ploy” by the Kremlin to try to “justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine”.
