Russia breached global chemical weapons ban in Ukraine war, US says
- In Reports
- 01:47 PM, May 02, 2024
- Myind Staff
On Wednesday, the United States accused Russia of breaching the international ban on chemical weapons by deploying the suffocating agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. The US also alleged that Russia has been using riot control agents “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine.
“The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces' desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield," the State Department said in a statement.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment.
Chloropicrin is classified as a prohibited choking agent by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is tasked with enforcing and overseeing adherence to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
German forces fired the gas against Allied troops during World War I in one of the first uses of a chemical weapon.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the Ukrainian military stated Russia has intensified its unlawful deployment of riot control agents as it pushes forward with its most significant advancements in eastern Ukraine in over two years.
According to the Ukrainian military, in addition to chloropicrin, Russian forces have employed grenades containing CS and CN gases. They reported that at least 500 Ukrainian soldiers have received medical treatment due to exposure to toxic substances, and tragically, one soldier lost their life due to suffocation from tear gas.
While civilians usually can escape riot control gases during protests, soldiers stuck in trenches without gas masks must either flee under enemy fire or risk suffocating.
The State Department said it was delivering to Congress its determination that Russia's use of chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops violated the CWC.
The statement noted that Moscow's deployment of the gas "comes from the same playbook as its operations to poison" the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal along with his daughter Yulia in 2018 using the Novichok nerve agent.
Russia denied involvement in both cases.
The department also determined that Russia has breached the CWC's prohibition on the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare, the statement said.
The statement announced sanctions against three Russian state entities associated with Moscow's chemical and biological weapons programmes, which include a specialised military unit responsible for deploying chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. Additionally, four Russian companies that provide support to these three entities have been sanctioned.
The sanctions entail freezing any U.S. assets held by the targeted entities and generally prohibit Americans from engaging in business with them. Additionally, the U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on three entities and two individuals involved in procuring items for Russian military institutions linked to the country's chemical and biological weapons programmes.
These measures were part of new actions announced by the United States on Wednesday, aimed at addressing Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) prohibits the production and utilisation of chemical weapons. It mandates the destruction of any stockpiles of banned chemicals by the 193 countries, including Russia and the U.S., that have ratified the convention.
The State Department was expected to communicate its determination of Russia's violation of the CWC to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
In OPCW meetings, both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of violating the treaty. However, the organisation has not been formally requested to initiate an investigation into the use of prohibited substances in Ukraine.
Image source: Reuters
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