Post by JoyinMudville on May 2, 2024 9:09:06 GMT -5
There have been numerous isolated reports over the past year of Russia using chemical agents against Ukrainian troops.
The United States has now come forward and formally accused Russia of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention (which it did sign)
www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/world/europe/us-russia-chemical-weapons-ukraine.html
The United States has now come forward and formally accused Russia of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention (which it did sign)
U.S. Accuses Russia of Using Chemical Weapons in Ukraine
The State Department said Russia had used chloropicrin, a poison gas widely used during World War I, against Ukrainian forces, an act that would violate a global ban signed by Moscow.
The United States has accused Russia of using chemical weapons, including poison gas, “as a method of warfare” against Ukrainian forces, in violation of a global ban on the use of such weapons.
The State Department said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia had used chloropicrin, a “choking agent” widely used during World War I, as well as tear gas, against Ukrainian troops. The use of these gases in warfare is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms control treaty ratified by more than 150 countries, including Russia.
“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. Russia this year has been slowly but steadily pushing through Ukrainian defenses in the east, capturing several towns and villages.
The State Department also said that the United States would impose sanctions on three state entities linked to Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs and four companies that support them.
The Ukrainian authorities have reported about 1,400 cases of suspected chemical weapons use on the battlefield by Russia since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, and that the rate has accelerated as Moscow presses ahead with attacks along the front line.
Maj. Anastasiia Bobobvnikova, a public affairs officer for the Ukrainian Army’s Support Forces, said that 371 cases of suspected chemical weapons use by Russian forces had been reported in March, about seven times the number from a year earlier.
The use of toxic agents often coincides with intense periods of fighting when Russia’s forces are battling to dislodge Ukraine’s from well-fortified positions, according to several combat medics and soldiers.
This winter, as the fight around the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine was gathering pace but Russia was largely failing to make progress, medics at a frontline stabilization point said Russian forces had used chloropicrin, which severely irritates the nose, throat and lungs when inhaled.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, reported in December that Russian forces fighting near the southern city of Kherson had said on social media that they were dropping K-51 aerosol grenades filled with CS gas from drones onto Ukrainian positions.
The State Department said that Russia’s disregard for its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention “comes from the same playbook” as its operations to poison Aleksei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in a Russian prison in February, and Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who acted as a double agent for Britain, with Novichok nerve agents.
Foreign ministers assembled at a Group of 7 summit last month said in a statement that “any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences.”
The State Department said Russia had used chloropicrin, a poison gas widely used during World War I, against Ukrainian forces, an act that would violate a global ban signed by Moscow.
The United States has accused Russia of using chemical weapons, including poison gas, “as a method of warfare” against Ukrainian forces, in violation of a global ban on the use of such weapons.
The State Department said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia had used chloropicrin, a “choking agent” widely used during World War I, as well as tear gas, against Ukrainian troops. The use of these gases in warfare is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms control treaty ratified by more than 150 countries, including Russia.
“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. Russia this year has been slowly but steadily pushing through Ukrainian defenses in the east, capturing several towns and villages.
The State Department also said that the United States would impose sanctions on three state entities linked to Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs and four companies that support them.
The Ukrainian authorities have reported about 1,400 cases of suspected chemical weapons use on the battlefield by Russia since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, and that the rate has accelerated as Moscow presses ahead with attacks along the front line.
Maj. Anastasiia Bobobvnikova, a public affairs officer for the Ukrainian Army’s Support Forces, said that 371 cases of suspected chemical weapons use by Russian forces had been reported in March, about seven times the number from a year earlier.
The use of toxic agents often coincides with intense periods of fighting when Russia’s forces are battling to dislodge Ukraine’s from well-fortified positions, according to several combat medics and soldiers.
This winter, as the fight around the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine was gathering pace but Russia was largely failing to make progress, medics at a frontline stabilization point said Russian forces had used chloropicrin, which severely irritates the nose, throat and lungs when inhaled.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, reported in December that Russian forces fighting near the southern city of Kherson had said on social media that they were dropping K-51 aerosol grenades filled with CS gas from drones onto Ukrainian positions.
The State Department said that Russia’s disregard for its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention “comes from the same playbook” as its operations to poison Aleksei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in a Russian prison in February, and Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who acted as a double agent for Britain, with Novichok nerve agents.
Foreign ministers assembled at a Group of 7 summit last month said in a statement that “any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences.”