White House warns Russia may use chemical weapons in Ukraine
Washington, Mar 10: The Biden administration has publicly warned that Russia might seek to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine as the White House rejected Russian claims of illegal chemical weapons development in the country it has invaded.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova this week, without evidence, accused Ukraine of running chemical and biological weapons labs in its territory, supported by the US White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Russia's claim "preposterous" and said it could be part of an attempt by Russia to lay the groundwork for itself using such weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine.
"This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine," Psaki tweeted Wednesday.
"Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them."
The US for months has warned about Russian "false flag" operations to create a pretext for the invasion. Wednesday's warning suggested Russia might seek to create a pretense for escalating the two-week old conflict that has seen the Russian offensive slowed by stronger-than-expected Ukrainian defenders, but not stopped.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Wednesday called the Russian claim "a bunch of malarkey."
The international community for years has assessed that Russia has used chemical weapons before in carrying out assassination attempts against Putin enemies like Alexey Navalny and former spy Sergei Skripal. Russia also supports the Assad government in Syria, which has used chemical weapons against its people in a decade-long civil war.
Asked by a Russian journalist about the claims, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "At this point have no information to confirm these reports or these allegations about these kinds of labs."
"Our colleagues at the World Health Organization, who have been working with the Ukrainian Governments, said they are unaware of any activity on the part of the Ukrainian Government which is inconsistent with its international treaty obligations, including on chemical weapons or biological weapons," Dujarric added.
This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022
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UP: Passenger falls to death while spitting 'paan' from moving bus
Sultanpur (UP), Nov 30: A 45-year-old passenger fell to his death from an air-conditioned Uttar Pradesh roadways bus allegedly after he opened its door to spit 'pann' as the vehicle moved through the Purvanchal Expressway here on Saturday, police said.
The incident took place on the 93-km milestone of the expressway around 10.30 am when the bus was en route to Lucknow from Azamgarh.
"As the bus reached near Bihi village in the Baldirai police station area, a passenger opened the door of the moving bus to spit. He lost balance and fell onto the road, resulting in his death. He had opened the door to spit 'paan'," a police official said.
"The bus was stopped immediately, and Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) officials along with the police were informed," the official said.
Baldirai Station House Officer (SHO) Dheeraj Kumar said that UPEIDA personnel rushed the victim to the local Community Health Centre via ambulance, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
"The deceased was identified as Ram Jiavan, a resident of Chinhat area in Lucknow. His wife, Savitri, was also travelling with him on the bus," Kumar said.
He added that the bus has been taken to the police station for further investigation and the body has been sent for post-mortem.
