Russia has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council Friday morning to present what it claims is evidence of U.S. involvement in "military biological activities" in Ukraine.
The request was announced in a tweet by Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy and followed claims by Russia and China that the United States is involved in secret biological research in Ukraine. The U.S. has denied the claims and warned Russia could be spreading misinformation to lay the groundwork for a so-called "false flag" operation.
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"Russian Mission asked for a meeting of #SecurityCouncil for 11 March to discuss the military biological activities of the US on the territory of #Ukraine," Polyanskiy tweeted late Thursday.
As one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Russia can demand an emergency meeting. Friday's session is set for 11 a.m. ET.
The matter exploded on the world stage after Russia made the allegation that the U.S. knew of dangerous biological research labs in Ukraine and U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland did not unequivocally deny it in a guarded response during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Tuesday.
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“Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops and Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of,” Nuland said. “So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.”
A spokesperson for the State Department later told the Washington Examiner Nuland “was referring to Ukrainian diagnostic and biodefense laboratories,” which “are not biological weapons facilities.”
A U.S. official said whatever Russia claims to have as evidence will be refuted.
“This is exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack," said Olivia Dalton, spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. “We’re not going to let Russia gaslight the world or use the U.N. Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation.“
White House press secretary Jen Psaki warned Wednesday that Russia might use chemical or biological weapons against Ukraine and that the "preposterous" biolabs claim could be part of Moscow's plan.
“This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” Psaki said.
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Russia likewise claimed that Ukraine could be preparing to attack its troops with chemical or biological weapons, a claim Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected.
“That worries me very much because we have often been convinced that if you want to know Russia’s plans, they are what Russia accuses others of,” Zelensky said late Thursday in an address to his embattled nation. “I am a reasonable person. The president of a reasonable country and reasonable people. I am the father of two children."
“And no chemical or any other weapon of mass destruction has been developed on my land," he said. "The whole world knows this.”
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