Joe Biden warned that Putin is considering using chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine

US President Joe Biden said Monday that it is “clear” that Russia is considering the use of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine and warned of a “severe” response from the West if it decides to do so.

“His back is against the wall,” Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, recalling that Russia recently accused the United States of stockpiling chemical and biological weapons in Europe. “It’s just not true, I guarantee you,” he assured American business leaders in Washington.

“They are also suggesting that Ukraine has chemical and biological weapons. That is a clear sign that he (Putin) is considering using both types (of weapons),” he stressed.

His warning echoes statements released by his administration earlier this month and to other Western nations after Russian officials accused Ukraine of trying to hide an alleged US-backed chemical weapons program. “Now that Russia has made these false claims… we should all look closely at the possibility of Russia using chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, or creating false flag operations using them,” the UN press secretary warned on Twitter. White House, Jen Psaki.

On Monday, Biden also reiterated that such an action would trigger a “severe” but so far the undefined response from Western allies. As he advanced, Putin “knows that there will be severe consequences on behalf of the united front of NATO,” he said, without specifying what actions the alliance would carry out.

Biden also told businesses to be on the lookout for cyberattacks from Russia. “It is part of Russia’s operations manual,” he said in a statement.

The United States and its allies have previously accused Russia of spreading an unproven claim that Ukraine had a biological weapons program as a possible prelude to the use of such weapons, but Biden’s comments on Monday were among the most forceful on the theme.

Russia says it does not attack civilians, although the devastation wrought in Ukrainian cities such as Mariupol and Kharkiv is reminiscent of earlier Russian assaults on cities in Chechnya and Syria.

Putin calls the war, which is the largest attack on a European state since World War II, a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from “Nazis”. The West calls it a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression.

Russian troops have failed to capture any major Ukrainian cities after four weeks of the invasion, and are increasingly resorting to massive destruction of residential areas with airstrikes, long-range missiles and artillery.

The port of Mariupol, in the south of the country, has become one of the focuses of the Russian assault and is practically in ruins and with corpses in the streets, but on Monday it was also reported that the attacks against the second city, Kharkiv.

Russian forces are expected to continue targeting critical infrastructure with “high-precision weapons and indiscriminate ammunition,” Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement.

DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE

Biden is scheduled to travel to Europe this week to meet with the leaders of allied countries to discuss tightening sanctions against Russia, in addition to the unprecedented economic sanctions already announced. Before the trip, Biden discussed Russia’s “brutal” tactics in a call with European leaders on Monday, the White House said.

Russia’s siege and bombardment of Mariupol, which European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called a “massive war crime,” is increasing pressure for action.

However, EU foreign ministers disagreed Monday on whether to include energy in sanctions, with Germany saying the bloc was too dependent on Russian oil to impose an embargo.

Biden criticized India for having been “a little hesitant” to act against Russia, its biggest supplier of military hardware, but praised the other members of the Quad group, Australia and Japan. India has called for an end to the violence in Ukraine but has abstained from voting against Russia, its former Cold War ally.

China, which has also refused to condemn the Russian assault, and its ally, Pakistan, expressed concern about the “spillover effects of unilateral sanctions” imposed on Russia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said after a meeting of the foreign ministers of both countries.

They called for a ceasefire and a diplomatic resolution of the crisis.