Geoana: We have no indications of the imminent use of chemical or biological weapons by Russia

There are currently no indications of "imminent" use of chemical or biological weapons by Russia, NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana told AGERPRES, speaking in the context about the rhetoric of the Russian Federation in the past.

"We have no indications of the imminent use of chemical or biological weapons by the Russian Federation. On the other hand we have indications on a rhetoric it used in Syria, falsely accusing Ukraine and American allies of allegedly having a biological laboratory - exactly the recipe used by the Russians in Syria," he said.

Thus, says the official, NATO leaders have decided to preventively provide protective equipment against such potential.

"We do not anticipate an attack by the Russian Federation on NATO territory or countries," he said.

The message sent by NATO on Thursday, Geoana points out, is to warn Russia of the risks that such an escalation of the conflict could bring, "but also of the severe consequences that the Russian Federation would have to additionally bear compared to current sanctions, such a new atrocity is reached, and the war crimes case would become even more robust and this should be taken into account by the Russian leadership."

"We do not see an imminent risk, but we do see preliminary steps in the public communication that Russia made in the past, and that is why we decided to speak clearly, as we spoke clearly a few months ago, about the fact that we had information that Russia would attack Ukraine. It is also a part of strategic communication that we have decided to use today," he said.

Geoana said that "it is very clear that Russia has specialized in inventing pretexts and very often these pretexts are so clear."

"We are also very attentive to what Russia is doing in the military field, obviously we have real-time information about all the movements that they make, and on the other hand we are very attentive to the way they communicate publicly, because sometimes they only use it for the purpose of intimidation, other times they use it for the purpose of preparing very aggressive actions," he said.