The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the international chemical weapons watchdog, has confirmed that Russian forces likely used the toxic chemical 2-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile – the main component of tear gas also known as CS gas – in September in its war on Ukraine. This use of riot control agents as a weapon of war the Chemical Weapons Convention that the OPCW implements, the organisation stated.
The OPCW’s new report into chemical weapon use by Russian troops, is based on analysis of a grenade shell and two soil samples collected last month from a trench on the frontlines in the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. These materials were sent to two OPCW-designated laboratories for separate and independent analysis, which indicated that both the grenade and the soil sample collected next to it contained CS. The findings were supplemented by related documentation and digital files, as well as testimonies from first-hand witnesses.
OPCW director-general, Fernando Arias, expressed serious concern over the new findings related to the alleged chemical weapon attack that took place on 20 September. ‘All 193 OPCW member states, including the Russian Federation and Ukraine, have committed never to develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, transfer or use chemical weapons,’ he stated. ‘It is therefore important now for all states parties to uphold the norm against chemical weapons.’
In May, the OPCW concluded that allegations of Russian forces using tear gas and riot control agents in its war with Ukraine were ‘insufficiently substantiated’, but a spokesperson warned that the situation remained ‘volatile and extremely concerning’ regarding the possible re-emergence of the use of toxic chemicals as weapons.
That OPCW conclusion followed a US State Department announcement that it was imposing new measures on Russia for deploying chemical weapons, including the choking agent chloropicrin, against Ukraine forces. More recently, in October, the UK government announced sanctions on Russian troops for deploying chemical weapons in Ukraine, noting the fact that Russian forces had openly admitted to doing so, citing multiple reports of the use of chloropicrin on the battlefield.
In a 19 November statement, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said Ukraine has ‘consistently stated that the Russian Federation systematically uses hazardous chemical substances against Ukraine’, in particular tear gas grenades.
The MFA estimates that there have been more than 4600 cases of Russian forces using munitions containing hazardous chemicals, including CS, chloroacetophenone and chloropicrin between February 2023 and October 2024.
Russian authorities continue to deny using chemical weapons in Ukraine, most recently telling the OPCW on 12 November that its investigation confirms only that Ukraine used toxic substances against Russia.
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