NATO says concerned Russia readying for chemical attack in Ukraine

BRUSSELS — NATO is worried that Russia is gearing up to carry out a chemical attack in Ukraine, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers.

“We are concerned that Moscow could stage a false flag operation possibly including chemical weapons,” the NATO chief told reporters, citing “absurd claims” from Russia that Ukraine possesses biological weapons labs.

NATO, he said, remains “very vigilant” on that risk and stressed that Russia would have “a high price to pay” if it carried out such a “violation of international law.”

He refused to “speculate about any military response from the NATO side” if such a chemical attack happened.

Wednesday’s meeting, Stoltenberg said, would cover “concrete measures to reinforce our security for the longer term in all domains” to adapt to the changed threat environment arising from Russia’s “senseless war.”

“This could include substantially more forces in the eastern part of the alliance at higher readiness and with more pre-positioned equipment,” on top of the bolstered NATO forces already sent to NATO countries bordering Ukraine, he said.

A long-scheduled NATO summit in Madrid in June would look at longer-term changes for the alliance.

“It’s important to distinguish greatly about the immediate response — all the tens of thousands more troops, air power and naval power — and then the more long-term adjustment or posture,” to be discussed in June, he said.

US President Joe Biden will take part in a NATO summit in Brussels next week.

The gathering on March 24 of the US leader with his European counterparts comes after Washington and Brussels unveiled successive waves of coordinated sanctions against Moscow.

At the summit in Brussels, Biden will “reaffirm our iron-clad commitment to our NATO allies,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.