The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday vowed an aggressive response if Russia’s military uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.
“We are concerned that they may use chemical weapons in Ukraine. We’ve been clear if they escalate to this level, we will respond aggressively to what they’re doing,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” during a discussion about a potential Russian false flag operation.
“Jake, as you know, that Russian came into the Security Council on Friday with the spurious accusations that the U.S. was supporting Ukraine’s chemical weapons programs,” Thomas-Greenfield added. “And I’m not going to give that any more amplification here. What we see happening is, again, this is a false flag effort by the Russians.”
Her comments come after Moscow earlier this month accused the U.S. of housing biological weapons in Ukrainian territory — a statement the White House rejected. The U.S. has warned that Russia may be making such claims to lay false pretexts for a potential attack by Moscow.
“You’ve seen the consequences so far of our actions against Russia and against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and they are feeling those consequences and they will feel more if they take this unfortunate….decision to use chemical weapons,” Thomas-Greenfield added on Sunday, noting that Russian forces have used chemical weapons in Syria and against their own people.