On Wednesday, the US State Department charged that Russia's military had violated the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by employing chemical weapons against Ukrainian armed personnel.
As required by U.S. law, the State Department has informed Congress of its chemical weapons decision. The Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Elimination Act (CBW) was passed in 1991.
“The Department of State has made a determination under the CBW Act that Russia has used the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC),” the department announced. “We make this determination in addition to our assessment that Russia has used riot control agents as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC.”
One of the first substances to be employed methodically and purposefully as a chemical weapon was chloropicrin, which the German troops deployed against the Allies in World War I.
The State Department came to the conclusion that in an effort to seize control of a growing area of Ukrainian territory, Russian forces had probably started using chloropicrin and these other riot control agents to drive Ukrainian soldiers out of entrenched positions.
The State Department's conclusion about chemical weapons was made in response to identical accusations made against Russian soldiers by Ukrainian authorities and in press reports. As early as 2022, claims of Russian chemical weapons strikes had been made in the press.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in a Telegram message on February 9, 2024, that chemical agents had been deployed by Russian forces against Ukrainian troops hundreds of times, including 229 times in January 2024.
In order to support their claims that they are using chemical weapons, Ukrainian Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) reconnaissance troops will gather soil and vegetation samples in addition to ammunition fragments, according to the Ukrainian General Staff.
CS, or tear gas, is one specific chemical agent that Ukrainian soldiers said Russian troops employed. Although the CWC forbids their use in combat, it does allow law enforcement to employ riot control chemicals.
When it comes to riot control gasses, troops fighting from trenches and other fortified positions may have to suffer their effects or risk escaping under enemy fire, but people may usually avoid them during protests.
The State Department and Treasury Department announced sanctions against three Russian Federation government entities connected to Russia's chemical and biological weapons programs as well as four Russian companies supporting these entities, in addition to declaring their determination that Russian forces had used chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The Russian military's 48th Central Scientific Research Institute and its Radiological, Chemical, and Biological (RCB) section were among the recently sanctioned Russian government organizations. The State Department said that the Scientific Research Institute of Applied Acoustics, the third organization sanctioned by the Russian government, was involved in the chemical weapons program of the Russian military.
Joint Stock Company Research and Production Association Transcom (NPO Transcom), a creator of tracked and wheeled transport and containerized communications facilities, is one of the four recently sanctioned Russian companies. It is said that NPO Transcom has contracts with the Russian military's chemical weapons program.
Systems of Biological Synthesis, LLC; Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoi Otvetstvennostiu Tekhnologicheskie Sistemy I Services (OOO TSS); and Lab Service are the other three Russian companies that are subject to additional sanctions. It is stated that these three companies provide laboratory equipment.
According to claims made by the Russian military, chemical weapons have also been used by Ukrainian forces in combat.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in July 2022 that a number of Russian service men stationed in the Zaporizhzhia area of eastern Ukraine had been admitted to the hospital and had tested positive for botulinum toxin type B.
The Russian military said in February 2023 that it was looking into possible proof of chemical weapons strikes by Ukrainian forces in the vicinity of the towns of Bakhmut and Soledar in eastern Ukraine. The people making such claims of chemical weapons strikes in Ukraine were said to be in a separatist area of the country that Russia claims to be in control of.
“The enemy’s accusations of the use of chemical weapons by units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are untrue,” the Ukrainian military said of the February 2023 allegations.
The purpose of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is to monitor if the countries who have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention are adhering to the rules and looking into any suspected breaches. According to the OPCW, it has not yet received an official request to begin looking into the use of illegal chemicals in Ukraine.
It is anticipated that the State Department would inform the OPCW of its conclusion that Russia has broken the CWC.
