If Russia deploys chemical weapons, US President Joe Biden has stated that NATO will “react.” Chemical weapons are weapons that employ chemicals to cause death or injury through their poisonous qualities. Meanwhile, the White House is said to be working on contingency plans in case Putin utilizes the country’s chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons stockpiles. When asked if the US would retaliate with military force if Putin used chemical weapons during a news conference on Thursday, Biden said, “We would respond if he uses it.” The reaction would be determined by the nature of the use.”
He, on the other hand, declined to say whether the US had any intelligence on whether Russia was considering using these weapons. The Geneva Protocol, agreed in 1925, prohibits the employment of chemical and biological weapons in combat. The horrible use of chemical weapons in the First World War was one of the primary motivations of the prohibition. The convention, however, does not prohibit the research, manufacture, or storage of chemical weapons.
The US is also considering options for dealing with Russia’s possible nuclear weapons use. According to the New York Times, the White House has assembled a “Tiger Team” of national security experts to develop scenarios for how the US and its allies would respond if Russia used nuclear weapons.
According to Reuters, the strategy team is also considering how Russia may strike US security convoys or disrupt global food supply networks, as well as how to deal with the escalating refugee problem. Reuters, WASHINGTON, March 24 – Senior administration officials said on Thursday that the White House has formed a team of specialists to determine how the US would respond if Russia used weapons of mass destruction – chemical, biological, or nuclear – during its invasion of Ukraine.
As Moscow battles to defeat Ukraine’s military in a month-long conflict that the Russian government refers to as a “special operation,” Russia has frequently raised the danger of deploying nuclear weapons. The Kremlin announced last week that such weapons would only be utilized in the event of a “existential danger.”
Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be placed on high alert last month. According to the Interfax news agency, Russia’s defence ministry said on Feb. 28 that its nuclear missile forces, as well as the Northern and Pacific fleets, had been placed on increased combat duty in accordance with the directive. “The danger of nuclear conflict, long inconceivable, is again back within the range of possibility,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated on March 14.
