U.S. Pledges To Hold Russia Accountable For Using Chemical Weapons In Ukraine

The Biden Administration on Thursday formally accused Russia of using chemical weapons in Ukraine, and pledged further steps to hold Moscow accountable, following a new set of sanctions against the Kremlin, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"Russia violated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act by using the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops," the State Department said in a statement. The lung-damaging chemical was used as a poison gas in World War I.

Since February 2022, the U.S. and its Allies and partners have imposed unprecedented restrictive economic measures on Russia to "deprive the Kremlin of the revenue, technology, and materiel needed to resource its continuing invasion of Ukraine," as the State Department put it. On Wednesday, the Biden Administration imposed further sanctions on more than 280 individuals and entities that enable Russia to wage its illegal war against Ukraine.

In the meantime, Washington is still reluctant to designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, despite increasing calls.

"We have not changed our position with regard to that designation. But it in no way changes the actions that we have taken to hold Russia accountable," State Department's Spokesperson Matthew Miller told Thursday briefing when pressed by TURAN's correspondent.

Miller went on to elaborate, "You’ve seen since the outset of this conflict the United States imposing sanctions on Russia, imposing export controls on Russia.  We imposed new sanctions on Russia yesterday. You’ve seen us use our diplomacy to press other countries to stop their support for Russia. It was a focus of the Secretary’s recent trip to China, where he made clear that China should stop supporting Russia by rebuilding its defense industrial base and also making clear that if they didn’t take action we would."

"And most significantly, we’ve taken action to hold Russia accountable by supporting Ukraine in its fight for its territory," the Spokesperson concluded.