Russian Ministry of Defence threatens chemical attack in Kharkiv oblast
Denys Karlovskyy - Wednesday, 6 April 2022, 21:15
The Russian Ministry of Defence claims to have information about plans of the Ukrainian special services to carry out a chemical attack in Pervomaiskyi (a town in the Lozova district, Kharkiv oblast). This may indicate that the Russians are actually preparing such an operation themselves.
Source: Russian Ministry of Defence spokesman Igor Konashenkov in a speech
Igor Konashenkov, Verbatim: "According to confirmed information, Ukrainian special services are preparing a major provocation using toxic substances in the town of Pervomaiskyi, Kharkiv oblast.
A warehouse containing 120 tons of chlorine on the territory of the Khimprom production association has been mined by the Security Service of Ukraine.
The plan is to blow up this warehouse so that Russia can be accused of causing a chemical catastrophe that will kill local residents."
Details: Igor Konashenkov failed to provide any evidence of any such planning or preparation by the Ukrainian special services.
The Russian aggressors have repeatedly resorted to information provocation, accusing the other side in advance to conceal their own involvement in the use of prohibited weapons or war crimes.
The most recent example is when the Russian authorities accused the Ukrainian military and Western journalists of allegedly carrying out the massacre in Bucha, rather than the Russian aggressors who were based there throughout March.
Background:
On 10 March, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the Russian aggressors that any use of chemical weapons would be severely punished. He added, "If you want to know Russian plans, look at what Russia is accusing others of doing."
In March, Ukraine's Western partners said they had intelligence that Russia was considering using chemical weapons against civilians with a provocation set up in advance.
And in mid-March, the Russian military command eagerly distributed reports about the development of secret biological weapons and the deployment of "secret American biolaboratories" in Ukraine.
The UN responded that there was no evidence that Ukraine had developed biological weapons or had secret laboratories on its territory.
