Russia has been under fire from the US for allegedly using chemical weapons in the current war with Ukraine.
US officials claim that Russia used the choking toxin chloropicrin on Ukrainian soldiers in violation of the worldwide ban on chemical weapons. Furthermore, it is believed that Russia used riot control agents in Ukraine as a tactic of warfare.
According to the US, Russian forces are using chemical weapons as part of a larger plan to drive Ukrainian troops out of their strongholds and obtain tactical advantages in combat, not as isolated events.
These claims were described in full in a statement released by the State Department on Wednesday.
As reported by Al Jazeera, the State Department drew comparisons between Moscow’s use of Novichok nerve agents to poison people like Aleksei Navalny and Sergei and Yulia Skripal and its use of chloropicrin, as well as its ongoing disdain for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
The US retaliated by imposing more sanctions on organizations connected to Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine.
During World War I, chloropicrin—an almost colorless, oily liquid with a reputation for severely irritating skin, eyes, and lungs—was widely used, according to the US National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety.
It is still used as a pesticide in agriculture, although the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention forbids its use in combat (CWC).
Although Russia claims to have closed its military chemical stockpile, it is being pressured to provide more information about the substances it may have used in the past.
In addition, Russian forces have allegedly used grenades that include CS and CN gasses in addition to chloropicrin.
It further stated that one soldier had died from suffocating on tear gas, and at least 500 Ukrainian soldiers had received treatment for hazardous substance exposure.
Gyundoz Mamedov, the deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine until 2021, stated on social media on April 24 that since the Russian army started its full-scale invasion in February 2022, it had used tear gas against Ukrainian forces at least 900 times in the preceding six months, totaling over 1,400 incidents.
While soldiers trapped to trenches without gas masks are obliged to either evacuate under enemy fire or risk suffocating, civilians may typically escape such fumes during protests.
