(WASHINGTON) — As the war in Ukraine continues, one office inside the Commerce Department in Washington is at the crossroads of innovation and national security when it comes to sanctions on Russia.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has been controlling and enforcing export and imports from the United States, and when Russia invaded Ukraine, the bureau jumped in.
Export controls, according to Thea D. Rozman Kendler, assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, are a “national security tool” to keep “sensitive American technology” from countries that would otherwise use it maliciously. Some examples, she said, are goods, technology and software.
“Russia relies on foreign technology for most of its high-technology production,” she explained. “They need our parts and components, our technologies to make and repair weapons, planes, tanks, communications equipment, whatever they need to wage war when Russia attacks Ukraine we were ready with our allies and partners to impose tough restrictions on what could be sold to Russia. With a common goal of degrading Russia’s military capabilities.”
Kendler said as Russia’s military equipment runs out, it will need software updates and won’t get them due to the export and import controls the BIS placed on goods.
“Russia cannot make those weapons of war without us and partner country technology,” she explained. “And if we cut off that technologies, which is what we have tried to do in the last two weeks, we are directly limiting their ability to wage war.”
Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement, said that China will not be an option for Russia because of the U.S. strict ban on goods to Russia.
“If there is a plant in China that’s making semiconductors and sending them to Russia, that in some type of semiconductors that aren’t allowed, they’re not able to do that without us, technological help, including software updates, including like on site teams that will help with the software and the tooling,” he explained.
Axlerod said that if U.S. companies willfully violate some of the export and import bans placed on Russia there could be serious consequences, even jail time.
“If we find that people are willfully violating a law and shipping items to Russia that are prohibited by the rules, that’s a criminal violation. And people I work with every day our federal criminal law enforcement agents, right like so,” he said. “We bring cases in connection with the Justice Department … across the country against companies that that criminally violate the export control rules.”
Both Axelrod and Kendler served as prosecutors in the National Security Division at the Justice Department and they say that experience has aided them in this job.
“I prosecuted export controls cases, I looked at how we can take regulations and support them through enforcement if you have willful violators,” Kendler said. “So I certainly take that into account as I craft regulations. I think about the enforceability and the clarity of rules for industry, also, so that industry doesn’t inadvertently stumble into a violation. I think we have excellent partnerships with industry who want to comply with the rules and who want to be on the side of democratic values, particularly during the situation we’re facing in the world right now.”
(WASHINGTON) — At least two people are dead and eight others hospitalized after a car plowed into a Washington, D.C., restaurant during lunchtime Friday, authorities said.
D.C. Fire and EMS reported a “mass casualty incident” resulting in life-threatening injuries midday Friday in northwest D.C.
Ten victims were transported to a local hospital, where two women succumbed to their injuries, police said. The other eight victims were in stable to serious condition, police said.
All victims are believed to have been sitting in the outdoor dining area of the popular Greek restaurant Parthenon on the sunny D.C. day when the SUV careened off the road, authorities said.
The victims range in age from about 30 to 80, according to D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly.
“This is rare. … We haven’t had an incident like this in many years,” Donnelly told reporters during a press briefing Friday. “A car hitting a crowd of people is a very serious event. Obviously, which we see, it’s a tragedy that results in a lot of injuries — serious injuries — so that’s what we’re dealing with right now.”
Crash with Mass casualty incident declared 5500 block Conn. Ave NW. Vehicle struck outside seating area of restaurant. #DCsBravest triaging multiple patients. No structural damage. pic.twitter.com/RTQN8hHr8u
The crash is believed to have been an accident, authorities said. The driver, described as an elderly man, was alone in the vehicle when he apparently lost control, D.C. Police Second District Cmdr. Duncan Bedlion said.
“There are no indications this was intentional in any form or fashion,” Bedlion told reporters.
The driver received treatment at the scene and is cooperating with authorities, Bedlion said.
No structural damage to the building has been found.
The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia is investigating.
(NEW YORK) — Health care providers that serve the transgender community in Alabama are struggling to make sense of a new bill moving quickly through the state legislature.
The Vulnerable Child Protection Act would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the state.
Pediatric endocrinologist Hussein Abdullatif, who provides gender-affirming care for trans youth, said the legislation leaves many questions: Will trans youth be able to continue seeing their physicians? Will they be able to receive their medications?
“I worry about my patients,” Abdullatif told ABC News. “They already are showing a great deal of anxiety related to what’s going to happen.”
Abdullatif says it is not only his transgender patients’ physical health but also their mental health that is of concern. He said he has seen firsthand the way discrimination and lack of care can affect his trans patients.
“I do know of a kid who already attempted three times suicide — not because of law, of course, because they haven’t passed it yet — but because of resistance by the mother of the child to the idea of being transgender,” he said.
The bill states that anyone who provides gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy or physical gender-affirming surgeries to anyone under 18, could be convicted of a felony and face up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Shay Shelnutt, called gender-affirming health care, “child abuse.”
“We don’t want parents to be abusing their children. We don’t want to make that an option, because that’s what it is, it’s child abuse. This is just to protect children,” Shelnutt said on Feb. 23 on the state Senate floor.
Yet experts say the notion of gender-affirmation as child abuse as well as language used in the legislation — for instance — the claim that people can experience “permanent sterility, that result from the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures” are forms of misinformation.
Debunking myths about transgender health care and gender-affirmation
The bill refers to “minors” and “surgical procedures” but in Alabama, gender-affirming surgeries aren’t allowed until a patient reaches the age of legal majority for medical decisions, which is 19.
“When lawmakers attempt to practice medicine with a life without a license, they realize quickly that there was a lot more they didn’t understand than what they thought they did,” said Morissa Ladinsky, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pediatrics.
The bill’s language also makes claims about mental health and gender affirmation which some experts say are false.
“Individuals who undergo cross-sex cosmetic surgical procedures have been found to suffer from elevated mortality rates higher than the general population. They experience significantly higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and psychiatric hospitalizations,” the legislation reads.
However, research from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention found higher rates of substance abuse, depression and suicidal ideation were linked to stigma, discrimination and victimization experienced by this population.
Research shows that people who have gender-affirming surgery had significantly lower odds of psychological distress, tobacco smoking, and suicidal ideation compared with trans people with no history of gender-affirming surgery.
As for hormone therapy and puberty blockers, physicians say gender-affirming care comes after long discussions between parents and their children, as well as between families and their physicians.
Puberty blockers provide an individual and their family time to determine if a child’s gender identity is long-lasting, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Trans youth may face stress and anxiety from puberty development, including breast or facial hair growth, that does not align with their gender identity. Puberty blockers can help offer relief from that stress, experts say.
If an adolescent child stops taking the treatment, puberty resumes.
“It’s harmless and it’s not something that locks you in a certain decision that you cannot leave,” Abdullatif said.
Hormone therapy, which induces male or female physical changes, also helps address the needs of transgender teens in affirming their identity.
The legislation also makes the claim that puberty blockers can cause infertility or other health risks.
According to Ladinsky, these potential side effects only present real risks after puberty and are not a risk to youth taking puberty blockers.
Gender-affirming youth care is supported by several national medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
“The worry is that we will have an epidemic of suicide because of a bill that calls itself the [Vulnerable Child Protection Act],” said Abdullatif.
Bills seen by advocates as anti-trans have also been proposed in past Alabama legislatures, as well as in states including Idaho and Arkansas. Arkansas is currently facing lawsuits against its bill that was passed into law last year despite the governor’s veto, and bans gender-confirming treatments for transgender youth.
“This is a government overreach,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said at the news conference in April 2021.. “You are starting to let lawmakers interfere with health care and set a standard for legislation overriding health care. The state should not presume to jump into every ethical health decision.”
Ladinsky says it keeps her up at night to think about the patients who are just now understanding their gender identities.
She said she worries youth will believe “my state has made the choice to erase me.”
(ASHEBORO, N.C.) — A one-year-old boy who was born with a congenital heart defect and underwent three open-heart surgeries in his first months of life, now has a new heart.
Easton Sinnamon, of Asheboro, North Carolina, underwent a first-of-its kind heart transplant. The baby not only received a new heart, but also, two weeks later in a separate procedure, received thymus tissue from the same donor.
With the transplanted thymus tissue comes the hope that Easton will have to take much smaller doses of the immunosuppressive drugs transplant recipients typically have to take for the rest of their lives, according to Joseph W. Turek, M.D., Ph.D., chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at Duke University Hospital, and the doctor who oversaw Easton’s transplants.
“This is a huge step in the right direction,” Turek told “Good Morning America.” I would hope that we could envision a day in the near future where we wouldn’t need to use such high doses of immunosuppression with this technique.”
Turek had to seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for the combined heart and thymus transplant, which took place in August.
They were able to try the procedure first in Easton, because he was born both with a congenital heart defect and a deficiency of T cells, which protect the body from infection and are developed in the thymus, an organ that sits close to the heart, according to Turek.
“It’s not very common that you’re going to find a child that has these two issues, and that’s really given us an opportunity to to look at this in a real clinical environment that that we would never have the opportunity to do otherwise,” he said. “It’s also what allowed the FDA to realize this is probably a very safe plan for Easton.”
Kaitlyn Sinnamon, Easton’s mom, said she and her husband were willing to let doctors try the procedure on their youngest child because they knew their son was in a near-death situation.
Sinnamon, also the mom of a 4-year-old daughter, said she found out at her 20-week ultrasound that Easton had a congenital heart defect, which happens in about 1% of births in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Once Easton was born, doctors discovered he also had a damaged heart valve. As a result, Easton underwent three open heart surgeries in his first five months of life, the first of which happened when he was five days old.
Sinnamon quit her job to care for Easton, who spent nearly all of his first year of life in the PICU at Duke University Hospital, about 75 minutes away from the family’s home.
“That was my job, to be at the hospital with him,” said Sinnamon. “I’d get up in the morning, take our daughter to day care, go to Duke for the day, come home, pick her up, do all the normal household things when we would get home and go to bed and do it again, every day of the week.”
Easton spent 112 days on the waiting list for a heart transplant, at times having to be taken off the list because he was so sick.
About two weeks before his transplant, Sinnamon said she and her husband had to make the call to put Easton on life support so that he could stay alive as they waited for a heart.
“He’d been listed for over 100 days … and we weren’t going to let those days that we’d been waiting and fighting be for nothing,” she said. “It was really hard there towards the end. We were scared that we were going to lose him.”
In early August, doctors told Sinnamon the news she had been waiting over three months to hear — they had found a donor heart for Easton.
In an overnight procedure done just hours later, on Aug. 6, 2021, a team of doctors and nurses led by Turek, who also flew to procure the heart and thymus from the donor, transplanted the heart into Easton.
Around two weeks later, doctors implanted thymus cells from the same donor into about 25 to 40 spots in Easton’s thigh, according to Turek.
Sinnamon said that once a new heart was beating inside Easton, his recovery was fast, adding, “With a functioning heart, he just kind of took off.”
For Turek and the transplant team, they closely watched Easton’s internal reaction to his new heart and thymus cells, and saw success.
Easton’s body, which once had “negligible T cell activity,” now has normal levels of T cells, according to Turek, who said the next step is watching to see if Easton has developed enough of a tolerance to go off some immunosuppressive drugs.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to know that something you worked on in the laboratory was able to be translated, and you can actually see tangible evidence that it’s helping someone,” said Turek, who has researched the use of thymus cells in transplants for the past five years. “Especially a child like Easton, who really wasn’t doing well for a long period of time.”
The Sinnamons’ decision to let Easton be the first to receive a heart and thymus transplant could potentially pave the way to help thousands of organ donor recipients in the future, according to Turek. The next stage of his research will be to see if this process can be replicated more broadly, including in people who have functioning T cells.
In the U.S., more than 106,000 people are currently on the transplant waiting list, and 17 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant, according to government data.
“Easton gives us all a lot of hope about what the future could be,” said Turek. “The fact that he needed a thymus and also needed a heart has really allowed us to figure out if this combination of using these two … could increase the longevity [of a donated organ] and decrease the amount of medications that are needed.”
Sinnamon said she and her family are grateful for Turek and the team at Duke University Hospital, whom she said have become “like family,” and for the family of the organ donor, whom they do not know.
“As much as this is Easton, it’s as much the donor’s child as well,” said Sinnamon. “On your happiest day, it’s another family’s worst day, so it’s kind of bittersweet when you get excited because you have to think about what the other family is going through.”
Easton was able to go home in September, where he was greeted by his big sister, Ivy, whom he met then for the first time.
“Because he was doing so poorly at times, we didn’t think we would have everybody together,” said Sinnamon. “Now that we do, it’s so nice to see him and Ivy playing and them both laughing and giggling together.”
In February, Easton celebrated his first birthday at home. He remains on a gastrostomy tube, or G-tube, for his medications and has a tracheotomy to help him breathe, the latter of which Sinnamon said should be removed soon.
“Even through all he went through, he’s one of the happiest babies I’ve ever seen,” said Sinnamon, who described Easton as “very social” and “extremely active.” “It’s funny seeing his attitude and personality come out once we made it home.”
(NEW YORK) — A video of an Arkansas man giving his grandsons a two-armed hug for the first time has touched the hearts of many and is drawing attention to adaptive equipment that can make a big difference for people with disabilities.
Emily Sisco, an adjunct professor of occupational therapy at Arkansas State University, shared the now-viral video on Facebook on Feb. 2. The clip shows her dad, Kevin Eubanks, tearfully holding his grandsons, Cope, 9, and Rigney, 6. Eubanks’ left arm was injured following a stroke in 2014 but last month, with the help of a soft, stretchy wristband tool, he was able to link his arms into a circle shape and lift them together for a warm embrace with the boys.
Eubanks, 60, said the special moment was “overwhelming” and one he couldn’t have imagined eight years ago. “It caught me off guard and as you can tell, it was very emotional for me because the family I grew up in, we always love to hug each other with both arms and it’s what we call giving a bear hug, and that is just something that I hadn’t been able to do since my stroke,” Eubanks explained to “Good Morning America.”
He went on, “I got to hug my second one, Rigney, which was born after my stroke. The realization really hit me then that this is the first time I’ve got to hug him like that with two arms. And I just could not control it then. I just cried and cried and cried.”
It’s a significant breakthrough for Eubanks, who, at 52, suffered a stroke that temporarily rendered the left side of his body paralyzed. He said doctors told his family at the time that he might not even live. But in the years since, Eubanks has worked hard to make a strong recovery. Watching the therapists who helped her dad even inspired Sisco to pursue occupational therapy as well.
“She saw how much work they were doing with me in the facility that I was in and it just touched her heart to where she wanted to be able to help people,” Eubanks said. “And that’s when she went back to school and got her degree.”
Sisco’s Facebook post has nearly 5 million views in just over five weeks. It has also shined a spotlight on the wristband tool Eubanks used.
Initially named the “Hugger” and now called the “HugAgain,” the tool is a prototype created by Arkansas State University students Erica Dexter, Larissa Garcia, Lisa James and Casey Parsons, all students of Sisco’s in the occupational therapy assistant program. The “HugAgain” is one of several adaptive tools, including an adaptive fishing pole, card holders and a soap holder tool — all made by Sisco’s students.
In January, Sisco gave her technical skills class a case study and two weeks to create a tool that would benefit the client in the case. In the past, Sisco said she gave students a fake scenario to work with. But this time she decided, with Eubanks’ approval, to present her own father’s real-life story and post-stroke experience for the class assignment.
“When we asked what is one thing that you would like to return doing and he said, hug again with two arms, we just knew that we had to help him get there,” Parsons explained to “GMA.” “We were all in agreement that giving him a hug was occupational-based, it was meaningful to our client, and it was something that we could do or at least try to do.”
The team got to work brainstorming ideas, addressing questions and figuring out technical details like the type of material they wanted to use. The “HugAgain” came together quickly – all within two weeks.
“We kind of went through some options of how we could make something to lift his arm up and we just ended up simplifying it because it really is pretty simple. But it’s just something that people don’t think of,” James said.
The team has since received messages from around the world, asking for more information about the “HugAgain,” so they set up a Facebook page and decided to perfect the design and plan to sell it when it goes into production.
“If you make money off of it, then that’s just icing on the cake, but that’s really not our motivation for what we’re doing,” James said. “We really want to see more reactions like Ms. Sisco’s father, and just see how many lives that can be touched through this one small device.”
Added Dexter: “It’s a thing that a lot of people take for granted. But you know, once it’s gone, you do value that and you can value that again.”
James said the project taught her and her classmates not to overlook each person’s unique needs. “Even just the small things can be just as important or more important to an individual than what our plans are for that person,” she said. “So I think it was a good lesson to really listen to what they’re telling us and not what we think they need.”
Eubanks said at the end of the day, the HugAgain and its impact is nothing short of extraordinary.
“I want people to know: Don’t ever underestimate the effect of a touch of some kind, no matter if it’s a handshake, a hug, or just putting your arm around somebody. That personal touch sends a message to that person that you love them and that can do so much to a person’s confidence and mindset.”
(NEW YORK) — As the world aims to figure out ways to live and shop more sustainably, Target is adding to those efforts with one of its latest initiatives.
The brand announced Target Zero this week, which essentially gives shoppers a better idea of which products help to reduce waste.
Throughout the store as well as online, there will be icons that display which items are designed to be refillable, reusable or compostable, made from recycled content, or made from materials that reduce the use of plastic.
“By making it easier for our guests to identify which products are designed to reduce waste, Target Zero helps them make informed decisions about what they purchase and advances a collective impact across our brand partners, our product shelves, and within our homes and communities,” Amanda Nusz, the senior vice president of corporate responsibility and president of the Target Foundation, said in a statement.
The assortment of offerings that will be tagged under Target Zero includes hundreds of new and existing products across beauty, personal care and home. There are also plans to expand into other categories in the future.
Target’s latest initiative falls in line with its commitments to the company’s sustainability strategy, Target Forward, which aims to collaboratively work with shoppers to elevate sustainable brands while also pushing to eliminate waste.
“We can’t wait to introduce our guests to Target Zero because we recognize their growing calls to find products that fit within their lifestyle, designed with sustainability in mind,” Jill Sando, Target’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, said in a statement.
She continued, “Our aim with Target Zero is to keep delivering on their needs through our ever-evolving product assortment, as well as to give brands investing in reduced waste products and packaging an opportunity to have those products highlighted by Target.”
Target fans looking to consciously shop can look forward to zero-waste innovations from brands such as Burt’s Bees which uses recyclable metal tins for its lip balms without single-use plastics, as well as PLUS which is a body wash created to eliminate excess water and waste by using a dehydrated, dissolvable square that transforms when wet.
The company said it has a goal of becoming a market leader for curating inclusive, sustainable brands and experiences by 2030 as well as aims to make 100% of its owned brand plastic packaging be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025.
(NEW YORK) — Mother Nature is going to hit the East Coast like a lion this weekend with a winter blast that will bring torrential rain, snow, icy roads and, in some southern states, tornados.
The weather system that’s forecasted to hit on Saturday has already dumped one to two inches of snow in states such as Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.
As of Friday, more than 75 million Americans across 26 states are under alert for winter weather. Most of the East Coast states affected have issued winter storm watches or winter storm warnings.
By Friday night into Saturday morning, the storm will dump heavy snow from West Virginia to Pennsylvania before moving to upstate New York and New England. Up to a foot of snow is possible in some areas, according to the forecast.
Along the I-95 corridor, heavy rain and wind are expected Saturday morning before changing into the snow. Major cities like Washington, D.C., and New York City aren’t expected to see a lot of snow accumulation but the freezing temperatures will make the roads icy.
The forecast is also predicting dangerous weather conditions for southern states.
An enhanced threat for tornadoes and damaging winds has been issued for parts of the Florida panhandle into southern Georgia – including Tallahassee, Panama City and Albany, Georgia. The time for the greatest risk of tornadoes will likely be late Friday night into early Saturday morning.
(WASHINGTON) — While President Joe Biden has repeated that the U.S. will not send troops to Ukraine to fight Russia, he warned Friday that “Russia would pay a severe price” if it used chemical weapons in Ukraine, raising questions over what those consequences would look like.
Biden announced new trade sanctions on Russia Friday and reiterated his position from the White House that “we will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine,” but so far, economic sanctions from the international community have not stopped Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The Biden administration has warned this week that Putin could use chemical or biological weapons, but officials have repeatedly refused to say if a chemical attack would cross a red line or whether they have intelligence that an attack is imminent.
“Your White House has said that — that Russia may use chemical weapons, or create a false flag operation to use them,” a reporter asked the president Friday. “What evidence have you seen showing that, and would the U.S. have a military response if Putin does launch a chemical weapons attack?”
“I’m not going to speak about intelligence,” Biden said, “but Russia would pay a severe price if they used chemical weapons.”
It was the only question he took before leaving the room.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, briefing reporters on Air Force One after the remarks, echoed Biden that there would be “severe consequences,” but also declined to go into specifics about what those would look like for Russia.
“They have used chemical weapons, which again, they are the only country in the mix here who possesses those, in Syria, and time again, we have warned about this particular pretext, and so it is something that we are being attentive to,” he said. “Russia is the only country in this equation with a chemical and biological weapons program in violation of international law.”
Russia escalates false chemical weapons claims
Russia, meanwhile, has doubled down on false claims that the U.S. is helping Ukraine develop chemical or biological weapons, bringing the accusations to the world’s stage at the U.N. Security Council Friday in an emergency session.
“I can foresee what the reaction will be from our Western colleagues, who I am sure are going to be saying now that all of this information is fake and Russian propaganda, but this is self-delusion and I do not think this will be helpful to the European people in case there are outbreaks in Ukraine and neighboring states,” said U.N. Ambassador for Russia Vassily Nebenzya.
Russia has not supplied any credible information to support their claims, but a web of disinformation spread the conspiracy theory this week — heightening concern among U.S. and Ukrainian officials that Russia itself may be planning to deploy chemical or biological weapons against Ukrainian targets or as part of a so-called “false flag” operation.
“I will say this once: Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program, and there are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States. Not near Russia’s border or anywhere,” rebutted U.N. Ambassador for Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “Ukraine owns and operates its own public health laboratory infrastructure,” she continued. “It has absolutely nothing to do with biological weapons.”
Reports of Russia sending chem-bio suits to Ukraine
A senior administration official told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz that aside from the so-called “false flag operations” — in which Russians are accusing Ukraine and the U.S. of a possible chemical or biological attack — the U.S. is receiving reports that the Russians are starting to bring in chem-bio suits to Ukraine.
“We believe it is an ominous sign they are possibly doing it for cover,” the official said of the Russian pretext.
The official also said that as much as one-fifth of the Russian force is now “inoperable” — meaning they are either dead, wounded or don’t have the support or equipment needed to continue right now — but there are still fears forces could take Kyiv as it wears down Ukraine.
JUST IN: “Russia would pay a severe price if they used chemical weapons,” Pres. Biden says.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised address late Thursday, that Russia falsely accusing Ukraine of preparing for a chemical attack “makes me really worried, because we’ve been repeatedly convinced if you want to know Russia’s plans, look at what Russia accuses others of.”
Thomas Greenfield added Friday, “In fact, it is Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law. It is Russia that has a well-documented history of using chemical weapons. It is Russia who is the aggressor here,” she said, pointing out the Kremlin’s recent history of poisoning political enemies and supporting the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Pentagon pushes back against Russia’s false claim
A senior defense official said Friday that despite the barrage of claims from China and Russia, the U.S. is not helping Ukraine create any chemical or biological weapons.
“We have nothing to hide, and the only reason why we elevated the discussion is because the Russians and the Chinese decided to lie about it — just flat out lie,” the official added. But they would not offer any U.S. intelligence assessment of the likelihood of Putin deploying chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.
“We know that the Russians have had — and we assess that they still have — a sophisticated chemical and biological weapons program. I’m not going to talk about intelligence assessments about what they may do with that program or what, if any, designs they might have on Ukraine in that regard,” the official said.
A Pentagon official told reporters Thursday it has “picked up indications that the Russians could be making these claims — these false claims — about us and Ukrainian work in biodefense as a way of creating a pretext of their own, to perhaps use these kinds of agents in an attack.”
Pressed on what “indications” they were referring to, they added, “I have to leave it with you with indications, and [I’m] not going to be at liberty to go in more detail than that today.”
Amid the looming threat, the World Health Organization has urged Ukraine to now destroy pathogen samples because Russia’s war in the country risks an “accidental spill.”
“This is part of us providing public health advice to every country to try to ensure there is a minimized risk of any harm to population because of any possible accidental leak of pathogens,” said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said from Lviv, Ukraine.
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan, Luis Martinez and Matt Seyler contributed to this report.
(SAN DIEGO) — Rising gas prices in the U.S. amid sanctions on Russian oil have some Americans feeling hesitant about any plans for a summer road trip. But tourism officials in one summer hot spot say they don’t think gas prices will hurt travel there much.
In San Diego, hotel owners like Bob Rouch say business has returned to pre-COVID levels. It appears that so many people want to travel and get out without masks that the desire to travel this summer outweighs any reluctance due to rising gas prices.
“I know some people refer to it as revenge travel,” Rouch said. “I think it’s people wanting to get out.”
Tourism officials say places like San Diego will likely fare well despite high gas prices because the city is a quick drive with minimal fuel burn from locations like Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Northern California.
(NEW YORK) — Russia is doubling down on its false claims that the U.S. and Ukraine are developing chemical or biological weapons for use against invading Russian forces, bringing the accusation to the United Nations Security Council on Friday.
A web of disinformation, not only from Russian state media but also Chinese propaganda outlets and even some American voices, have increasingly spread the conspiracy theory this week.
That’s prompted heightened concern among U.S. and Ukrainian officials that Russia itself may be planning to deploy chemical or biological weapons against Ukrainian targets or as part of a so-called “false flag” operation.
“This makes me really worried because we’ve been repeatedly convinced if you want to know Russia’s plans, look at what Russia accuses others of,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised address late Thursday, a sentiment the White House first shared Wednesday.
Ukraine does not have biochemical weapons laboratories. Instead, there are public health and veterinary health labs operated with U.S. support in Ukraine and several other former Soviet countries that provide technical support to a government’s health ministry and study disease, like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
U.S. support originated with the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, launched in 1991 to help secure and dismantle the remnants of the former Soviet Union’s biochemical weapons program in newly independent states, including Ukraine.
The U.S. has talked openly about the program throughout its history, working with 26 facilities in Ukraine on issues like biosafety and scientific mentorship training, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, an independent nonprofit dedicated to science and global security.
But in recent years, Russia, as well as China, has escalated accusations that these labs constitute a secret U.S. biochemical weapons program, at one point even claiming in state-run media outlets that they created the COVID-19 pandemic. In bitter irony, these labs have helped detect and stop the spread of COVID-19, according to public health officials.
Those false claims have skyrocketed this week, with Russia now bringing them to one of the world’s brightest spotlights — the U.N. Security Council. Russia’s mission in New York called for an emergency meeting Friday, 24 hours after its defense ministry falsely claimed it uncovered “U.S. secret military biological projects in Ukraine,” per state-run media.
“We’re not going to let Russia get away with gaslighting the world or using the U.N. Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation,” Olivia Dalton, the spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N., told ABC News Thursday.
It’s unclear if the U.S. will try to stop the meeting, currently scheduled for 10 a.m. ET. Procedural matters, like holding a meeting, require nine of the chamber’s 15 envoys to vote in favor, and no country can veto a meeting being held.
While the false claims have escalated this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ranted back in December that Ukraine, with U.S. mercenary help, was preparing a chemical weapons attack.
In 2018, Russia also made similar accusations against Georgia, the small former Soviet state that the Kremlin invaded a decade earlier as its government, like Ukraine’s, sought NATO membership. Russian forces still occupy two regions of the country, recognizing them as independent states — just as it did last month in eastern Ukraine before launching its invasion.
“The Russian allegations appear to be part of a disinformation campaign that has grown in response to scrutiny of Moscow for using and enabling the use of chemical weapons,” the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported in 2018 when Russia’s claims about Georgia were proven false.
The Kremlin record of “using and enabling the use of chemical weapons” runs deep, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, especially against individuals deemed enemies.
No one is higher on that list right now than Alexey Navalny. The opposition leader and anti-corruption activist was poisoned in August 2020 with the nerve agent Novichok by agents from the FSB, Russia’s principal security agency. He was flown to Germany and recovered before returning in January 2021 to Moscow, where he was almost immediately arrested.
Another notable example before Navalny were the Skripals. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian officer who was a double agent for the United Kingdom, was also poisoned with Novichok in March 2018 in Salisbury, England. His daughter Yulia and a police officer were also hospitalized by the attack, but all three recovered.
In contrast, Ukraine has been in full compliance with the chemical and biological weapons conventions since signing them in 1972 and 1993, respectively, according to the State Department.
Asked about Ukraine’s biomedical facilities, CIA Director Bill Burns told the Senate Thursday, “In any public health system around the world, there’s going to be work done in the interests of wider public health, to ensure that we have a grip on issues like that. But that’s in no way threatening. That’s not something that can be weaponized in the way that the Russians have clearly demonstrated — by their own actions against their citizens and people outside their country — their willingness to use.”
It’s unclear whether U.S. intelligence has any evidence that Russian forces are preparing for a chemical or biological attack. The White House, State Department and Pentagon publicly pointed only to “Moscow’s track record” and “increasingly concerning rhetoric,” in the words of State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
But a senior Pentagon official told reporters, “We have picked up indications that the Russians could be making these claims — these false claims — about us and Ukrainian work in bio defense as a way of creating a pretext of their own, to perhaps use these kinds of agents in an attack.”
Pressed on what “indications” they were referring to, they added, “I have to leave it with you with indications, and [I’m] not going to be at liberty to go in more detail than that today.”
For those in Ukraine, where Russian forces have shown there’s little they won’t do to subjugate the country, the fear is real.
“The manic obsession with which various Russian officials fantasize about non-existent biological or chemical weapons or hazards in Ukraine is deeply troubling and may actually point at Russia preparing another horrific false flag operation. This tweet is for the record,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Thursday.
