Russia Accuses Ukraine of Preparing Provocation with Chemical Weapons

MOSCOW – Russia’s Defense Ministry has said that Ukraine’s security service plans to carry out a chemical attack on civilians and then blame it on Russia.

“We know for sure that with the support of Western countries, the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) is preparing a provocation with the use of toxic substances against civilians.

“The purpose of the provocation is to accuse Russia of using chemical weapons against the population of Ukraine,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a daily briefing in Moscow.

Russia has destroyed all of its chemical weapons, which was verified by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and therefore does not have chemical munitions, said Konashenkov.

He added that the Russian military found in a captured regional headquarters of Ukraine’s National Guard, a detailed map of the territory of Ukraine with markings showing storage sites of toxic substances.

“Therefore, any attempt by the SBU with the use of toxic substances will inevitably be disclosed,” he warned.

Commenting on allegations that Russian forces had shot and killed 10 people waiting in line for bread in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, Konashenkov stressed that no Russian soldiers have been there.

“Thus, all the dead people are victims of the terror of Ukrainian nationalists, or these video shots were staged by the Ukrainian Security Service,” he said.

Konashenkov also denied that Russian forces had carried out an airstrike on a theater building in the city of Mariupol, saying “Russian aviation did not perform any tasks related to striking ground targets in the city.”

He added that refugees that had escaped from Mariupol said neo-Nazis of the Azov battalion were holding civilians hostage in the theater building, using the upper floors as firing points.