OPCW, US, Germany, Ukraine to accuse Russia of alleged use of chemical weapons

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the United States, Germany and Ukraine are preparing an investigation against Russia, the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of Russia, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said.

"One of the so-called independent states is to initiate an investigation and fabricate evidence that supposedly proves that Russia used toxic chemicals during the special military operation,” the official said.

According to him, the United States has already allocated about $400,000 dollars for the falsification of evidence. Washington fully controls the activities of the OPCW, Kirillov noted.

"To settle scores with unwanted states, Washington created an attribution mechanism in the organization, which was used to investigate cases of the use of chemical weapons in Syria," Igor Kirillov said.

In March, Russia notified the OPCW of Kyiv's plans to carry out a terrorist attack with the use of American chemical weapons.

Russian Permanent Representative to the OPCW and Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Vladimir Tarabrin, also announced Kyiv's plans to stage a terrorist attack with American chemical weapons.

"We informed them, among other things, about the plans of Ukrainian special services, disclosed by the Russian FSB, to carry out terrorist attacks against Russian military personnel, government officials, political and public figures using an analogue of BZ toxic substance produced in the USA,” he said.

The substance is included in Schedule 2 of the Chemicals Annex of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the official noted.

Tarabrin later said that the OPCW had received information from Russia. The organization will look into the provided report accordingly. He also expressed hope for a "balanced” and depoliticized position of the organization.

In May, the OPCW responded that "both Russia and Ukraine accused each other of using chemical weapons,” but "the information available to the secretariat was not sufficiently substantiated.”

Ukraine used chemical weapons in Soledar and Bakhmut

Advisor to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Yan Gagin, said in 2023 that the Ukrainian military used chemical weapons in Soledar and Bakhmut (Artemovsk) directions of hostilities. According to him, there were reports of nausea, vomiting and dizziness among Russian fighters.

He also noted that that was not the first time when the Armed Forces of Ukraine used chemical weapons.

"This kind of thing happened all along the front line, when industrial copters would spray substances from special containers that caused nausea, suffocation and coughing,” he said.