Russia traded accusations with the United States and Britain at the United Nations on Tuesday over the possibility of chemical weapons attack in Ukraine.
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The comments were made by diplomats to reporters after Russia raised the issue of an ammonia leak in Ukraine's besieged northeastern city of Sumy – blaming "Ukrainian radical nationalist groups" – during a closed-door UN Security Council meeting. The accusation was rejected by Britain and the US.
Russia's deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said Russian troops "have never planned or carried out strikes against any Ukrainian facilities where toxic substances are stored or produced."
"It is clear that the Ukrainian nationalist authorities, encouraged by the Western countries will stop at nothing to intimidate its own people and stage false flag attacks to accuse Russia," Polyanskiy said.
It was the third time Russia raised the issue of biological or chemical weapons since it began what it calls a "special military operation" on Feb. 24 to "demilitarize" Ukraine. The West and Ukraine reject that as a false pretext to invade a democratic country.
"It's hard not to conclude – given their record in the UK, in Russia against Alexei Navalny, given what we've seen in Syria – that this might well be a prelude to the Russians themselves creating some sort of false flag chemical weapons attack," Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told reporters.
US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield dismissed Russia's accusations as "ludicrous."
"Our concern is that this is a precursor for Russia's plans to use chemical weapons," she said.
A senior US defense official said on Tuesday that the US has not yet seen any concrete indications of an imminent Russian chemical or biological weapons attack in Ukraine but is closely monitoring intelligence.
US President Joe Biden said on Monday that Russia's false accusations that Kyiv has biological and chemical weapons illustrate that Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering using them himself in Ukraine.
Polyanskiy likened the situation in Ukraine to Syria, where he said chemical attacks by "terrorist groups" were blamed on the Russian-backed Syrian government.
Meanwhile, Washington and its Western allies are assessing whether Moscow should remain within the G20 grouping of major economies, sources involved in the discussions told Reuters on Tuesday.
The likelihood that any bid to exclude Russia outright would be vetoed by others in the club – which includes China, India, Saudi Arabia and others – raised the prospect of some countries instead skipping G20 meetings this year, the sources said.
The G20 along with the smaller G7 – comprising just the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Britain – is a key international platform for coordinating everything from climate change action to cross-border debt.
Russia is facing an onslaught of international sanctions led by Western nations aiming to isolate it from the global economy, including notably shutting it out of the SWIFT global bank messaging system and restricting dealings by its central bank.
"There have been discussions about whether it's appropriate for Russia to be part of the G20," said a senior G7 source. "If Russia remains a member, it will become a less useful organization."
Asked whether Biden would move to push Russia out of the G20 when he meets with allies in Brussels this week, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House on Tuesday: "We believe that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and in the international community."
However, the US plans to consult with its allies before any other pronouncements are made, he said.
A European Union source separately confirmed the discussions about Russia's status at forthcoming meetings of the G20, whose rotating chair is currently held by Indonesia.
"It has been made very clear to Indonesia that Russia's presence at forthcoming ministerial meetings would be highly problematic for European countries," said the source, adding there was however no clear process for excluding a country.
The G7 was expanded to a new "G8" format including Russia during a period of warmer ties in the early 2000s. But Moscow was indefinitely suspended from that club after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Earlier on Tuesday, Poland said it had suggested to US commerce officials that it replace Russia within the G20 group and that the suggestion had received a "positive response."
A US Commerce Department spokesperson said that a "good meeting" had been held last week between Polish Economic Development and Technology Minister Piotr Nowak and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo but added: Raimondo "welcomed hearing Poland's views on a number of topics, including the operation of the G20, but did not express a position on behalf of the US Government with respect to the Polish G20 proposal."
The G7 source said it was seen as unlikely that Indonesia, currently heading the G20, or members like India, Brazil, South Africa and China would agree to remove Russia from the group.
"It's impossible to remove Russia from G20" unless Moscow makes such a decision on its own, said an official of a G20 member country in Asia. "There's simply no procedure to deprive Russia of G20 membership."
If G7 countries instead were to skip this year's G20 meetings, that could be a powerful signal to India, the source said. It has drawn the ire of some Western nations over its failure to condemn the Russian invasion and support Western measures against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Indonesia's foreign ministry declined to comment on calls for Russia to be excluded.
Deputy central bank governor Dody Budi Waluyo on Monday said at a seminar Indonesia's position was always one of neutrality, but noting the risk of divisions over the issue said it would use its G20 leadership to try to resolve any problems.
Russia had a "strong commitment" to attend G20 meetings and other members could not forbid them from attending, he added.
Moscow's status at other multilateral agencies is also being questioned.
In Geneva, World Trade Organization officials said numerous delegations there were refusing to meet their Russian counterparts in various formats.
"Many governments have raised objections to what is happening there and these objections have manifested themselves in a lack of engagement with the member concerned," WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell said.
One source from a Western country said those not engaging with Russia at the WTO included the European Union, the US, Canada and Britain. No confirmation from those delegations was immediately available.
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In related news, Russian journalist and Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Dmitry Muratov announced on Tuesday he would auction off his medal in order to raise money for the refugees in Ukraine.
Muratov, who is the editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-critical Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, received the award jointly with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa last year for what Prize organizers praised as their "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression."
Now, Muratov is calling on auction houses to sell his medal to aid the millions of refugees displaced by clashes.
"Novaya Gazeta and I have decided to donate the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Medal to the Ukrainian Refugee Fund," Muratov said in an article. "There are already over 10 million refugees. I ask the auction houses to respond and put up for auction this world-famous award."
The editor and the Novaya Gazeta additionally said that five things must be done "right away" in regards to ending the conflict in Ukraine.
"Stop combat fire, exchange prisoners, release the bodies of the dead, provide humanitarian corridors and assistance, and support refugees," Muratov said.
At the beginning of March, the Novaya Gazeta also said it would take down articles on Russia's invasion of Ukraine due to Moscow's censorship on critical coverage of the conflict.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
