U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) spoke during a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing and warned of the possibility of Russian false flag operations involving biological warfare and discussed Russia’s frozen economy.
 
Rubio is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee On Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL): I only have a minute left. Let me ask you, does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?

The Honorable Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs: Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces, should they approach.

Rubio: I’m sure you’re aware that the Russian propaganda groups are already putting out there all kinds of information about how they’ve uncovered a plot by the Ukrainians to release biological weapons in the country with NATO’s coordination. 

If there is a biological or chemical weapon incident or attack inside of Ukraine, is there any doubt in your mind that 100 percent, it would be the Russians that would be behind it?

Nuland: There is no doubt in my mind, Senator. And it is classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy what they’re planning to do themselves.

Rubio: Last question: I am certain that the Russians were looking at their foreign reserves as a way to buffer sanctions. But now that we’ve sanctioned the central bank along with others, do we have an idea of what percentage of their reserves are frozen or inaccessible to them?

Nuland: Virtually all of them are now frozen. You notice that the country’s been under currency controls for almost two weeks now. And the whole point of putting so many of these top 10 banks under sanctions is to make it impossible for them to get access to their cash in hard currency.