Toxic approaches: The OPCW wants to involve the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the investigation of crimes
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- Toxic approaches: The OPCW wants to involve the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the investigation of crimes
Ukraine's use of toxic substances is receiving international publicity. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is discussing the parameters of a possible visit to Russia by a group of experts, Russian permanent representative to this structure Vladimir Tarabrin told Izvestia. Moscow asked the OPCW to send experts back in July, after Ukrainian explosive devices loaded with toxic chemicals were discovered in one of the liberated villages of the DPR. At the same time, the organization had previously ignored Russia's requests related to Ukraine's use of chemical weapons. According to Vladimir Tarabrin, Kiev has deployed a whole network of chemical laboratories that produce toxic substances and their means of delivery. However, experts believe that there is little chance of the OPCW participating in the investigation due to pressure from Western countries.
Relations between Russia and the OPCW
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is discussing the parameters of a possible visit of its experts to Russia, Vladimir Tarabrin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to this structure and Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands, told Izvestia.
— All necessary parameters of a possible visit of OPCW experts to Russia are currently being discussed. A lot will depend on the position of the OPCW technical secretariat and its Director General, who will undoubtedly be pressured. So we can consider this situation as a kind of test for the aptitude of the technical secretariat, its professionalism, impartiality and willingness to respond to any violations of the convention (the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was signed in 1993. — Izvestia), and not just those that will be pointed out from Western capitals," the diplomat said.
Izvestia sent a request to the OPCW with a request to clarify the details of a possible visit by a group of specialists to the Russian Federation.
Moscow asked the OPCW to send experts back in July. As the Russian permanent representative clarified at the time, technical assistance was required after the discovery of sets of improvised explosive devices loaded with toxic chemicals, including chloropicrin, in the territory liberated from Ukrainian militants (its use is prohibited by the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). OPCW Director General Fernando Arias informed the participating countries about the Russian request.
"In the event of a visit by [OPCW experts], the Russian side will be ready to hand over control samples, materials, as well as documentation and evidence related to the discovery in the village of Ilyinka (Donetsk People's Republic) of sets of improvised explosive devices loaded with toxic chemicals intended for use against our fighters and civilians," Tarabrin said.
At the same time, the OPCW has no mandate to confirm the use of chemical weapons by certain countries or non-State actors. The maximum that the technical secretariat can do is to confirm or deny the use of toxic substances. Nevertheless, Western countries are trying to ensure that the OPCW is given the authority "to identify those responsible for violating the CWC with all the consequences that follow," Tarabrin stressed.
Previously, the OPCW did not see the need to send experts to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict zone: in 2023, the secretariat responded in this way to 23 notes from Moscow about Kiev's upcoming provocations using toxic substances. Russia also did not receive a seat on the executive council of the organization for 2025-2027.
Even after the change of administration in the White House, representatives of Western countries are in no hurry to restore dialogue with Russia on topics on the OPCW's agenda, Vladimir Tarabrin noted.
— Although, of course, I can't help but notice that the Americans have somewhat muted their anti-Russian rhetoric. However, this is offset a hundredfold by a surge in negative activity from representatives of the European Union, who have only intensified attacks on our country," the Russian diplomat said.
The very fact that the OPCW is ready to discuss the parameters of the experts' visit to Russia may be due to the resumption of dialogue between Moscow and Washington, since the organization is actually controlled by the United States. The position that the secretariat will take largely depends on the United States, Vladimir Shapovalov, Deputy director of the Institute of Politics and History of Moscow State University, said in an interview with Izvestia. Suffice it to recall that the US contribution to the OPCW budget is about 22%.
At the same time, Shapovalov believes that Western countries will try to block Russia's requests in international organizations to investigate the creation and use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In addition, the location of a possible visit by experts remains unclear. It is doubtful that they will agree to visit the DPR. Russia has previously stated that it does not want to endanger international experts on the line of contact. Therefore, Moscow uses other tools: it informs its allies, holds briefings with demonstrations of evidence, and communicates this information through the media.
Chemical weapons of Ukraine
Ukraine is not only developing chemical munitions of various designs to equip them with toxic chemicals, but has also deployed a network of chemical laboratories that produce toxic substances of common action and their means of delivery, said Russia's permanent representative to the OPCW.
— Many chemicals used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine are, as they say, artisanal, mixed from improvised means. However, there are also industrial products, including those obtained from abroad," Tarabrin said. — We have repeatedly informed the OPCW Technical Secretariat and the CWC member states that toxic substances, precursors and chemical munitions of foreign manufacture are imported into Ukraine by mercenaries and employees of the special services of Western countries.
For example, in March 2023, Russia warned about the supply of temporarily disabling chemicals from the United States to Ukraine: B-Z, C-Es, and C-Ar, as well as Teren-6 hand grenades equipped with irritating chemicals (assault groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are equipped with such grenades).
Periodically, evidence of the use of toxic substances by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is found on the line of contact. For example, in 2024, the Central Control Center of the FSB of Russia reported that an artisanal laboratory for the synthesis of prussic acid was also discovered in positions abandoned by the Ukrainian army in the DPR, and in October, a cache of chloropicrin.
Military expert Alexei Leonkov confirmed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using chemical munitions, including those supplied from the UK. In response, the Russian military is destroying warehouses where such weapons can be stored and decontaminating the area.
— There are enough chemical enterprises in Ukraine that could create chemical warfare agents. For example, one of these was the Shostka plant, which has now been destroyed," he said.
Leonkov noted that the use of such ammunition is an element of the terrorist struggle. In his opinion, in the spring of this year, the United Kingdom took over the coordination of military operations in Ukraine, which suggested that Kiev switch to terrorist tactics.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the Russian Armed Forces, who was killed in December 2024 as a result of a terrorist attack, said shortly before his death that during his military operation, the Russian military had recorded more than 400 cases of the use of chemical weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The substances included chlorpicrin, Bi-Z, prussic acid, and chlorocyanin.
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