The US Secretary of State has reaffirmed that Russia should expect 'severe consequences' if it unleashes weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) during its invasion of Ukraine.
However, in an interview with CNN, Antony J Blinken refused to be drawn on what these consequences would be. And he said that President Joe Biden "has been very clear that... we’re going to avoid getting into any kind of conflict with Russia."
"I have to tell you we have real concerns that Russia could use a chemical – a weapon, another weapon of mass destruction. This is something we’re very focused on. Unfortunately, we’ve seen them use or acquiesce to its use before in Syria, with Syria using these weapons, using them itself, trying to assassinate its opponents, including in the United Kingdom. So this is something we are very focused on."
When asked what will the US and the NATO Allies do if Russia did use chemical weapons, Secretary Blinken replied: "We’ve been very clear, including with Russia, with others, that there would be a very serious response not just from us, but from the international community. I’m not going to spell it out here, but the consequences would be severe."
Secretary Blinken also refused outline how the US would respond if China provided military support to the Russians. He said: "We are concerned at the prospect of China providing material support to Russia or undermining the sanctions that we put in place with countries around the world, something that we’ve communicated directly to China, including just this – in the past 24 hours when the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, met with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.
"Again, without going into specifics of what we’ll do, we’ve made very clear that that’s not something that we’re going to take sitting down," said Secretary Blinken."
However, he was categorical about how he saw Ukraine's future. "I can tell you a couple of things, though, that I’m confident of," said Secretary Blinken.
"First of all, there’s going to be a Ukraine, an independent Ukraine, a lot longer than there’s going to be Vladimir Putin. One way or the other, Ukraine will be there, and at some point Putin won’t.
"The real question is how much death and destruction is wrought by Russia’s aggression in the meantime, and that’s what we’re working as hard as we can to limit, to stop, to put an end to this war of choice that Russia is committing."
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