NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg does not rule out that Russia may fabricate circumstances to justify the use of chemical weapons against Ukraine.
"For months we have been exposing a long list of Russian lies. They said they didn't plan to invade Ukraine. But they did. They said they were withdrawing their troops. But they sent more. They claim they are protecting civilians. But they are killing civilians. Now they make absurd claims about biological laboratories and chemical weapons in Ukraine. This is just another lie. And we are concerned that Moscow may organize an operation under a false flag, possibly using chemical weapons," he said Tuesday in Brussels at a news conference on the eve of the extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the defense ministerial level, which will be held March 16 in Brussels.
Stoltenberg stated that "any use of chemical weapons would be a violation of international law and a violation of the ban on the use of chemical weapons.
"We call on Russia not to use chemical weapons. We call on Russia to withdraw its forces and stop fighting and especially not to use chemical weapons," the NATO secretary general called on Moscow.
At the same time, he noted that Russia had previously used the chemical element "to kill a political opponent," as well as, "by supporting the Assad regime, helped facilitate the use of chemical weapons."
At the same time, Stoltenberg avoided answering the question of how NATO would react if Russia did use chemical weapons in the war with Ukraine.
"Our main responsibility is to protect our NATO allies. It is important for Russia to understand that we are ready to do so. We see them now accusing Ukraine and NATO allies of producing chemical weapons. That's a lie. That's why we have concerns that they will do exactly that. The president of the United States and other allies have made it clear that if they use chemical weapons, they will pay a high price for it. But I will not speculate about any military response from NATO, other than that NATO will do whatever it takes to protect its allies," the alliance secretary general responded.
