The Russian invasion force in Ukraine regularly uses chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield, probably to drive them out of fortified defensive positions and thereby gain territory. According to the US State Department, which made the accusation on Wednesday, the use of chemicals by the Russians is “not an isolated incident.” This includes the chemical chloropicrin, a toxic substance that is on the prohibited list of the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). That 1993 treaty was signed by 198 countries, including Russia.
Russia denies that the country is guilty of violating the treaty. “As always, such statements are absolutely groundless and without any substantiation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday afternoon.
Chloropicrin was used by the German army as early as World War I, as one of the first chemical weapons deployed in wartime. The toxic substance, which is used in low concentrations for pesticides, is dangerous to humans in high concentrations. It causes serious irritation to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract and can lead to dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea and breathing problems. In addition to chloropicrin, the Russians are also using tear gas against soldiers on the front line in Ukraine, according to Washington.
It is not the first time that the Russians have been accused of using chemical weapons in Ukraine. In August last year, Ukrainian army commander Oleksandr Tarnavsky reported the use of a poisonous substance by the Russians, “presumably chloropicrin.” This is said to have been released by Russian shelling during the Ukrainian summer offensive.
Tearing eyes
A few weeks ago, Ukrainian soldiers on the eastern front said they had been attacked in the trenches with a substance that felt like pepper spray, dropped by a Russian drone. They complained, among other things, of watery eyes. And in early April, a Ukrainian commander in the heavily besieged frontline town of Chasiv Yar said otherwise TheTelegraph that his troops received “one or two grenades” of banned chemical substances every day.
According to Ukraine, the use of the chemicals is intended to drive soldiers out of the trenches in an effort to make faster progress. According to Kyiv, at least 500 Ukrainian soldiers have been treated for conditions caused by chemicals. One of them is said to have died. In many places along the front line, soldiers try to protect themselves with gas masks.
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After the thousand-kilometer-long front line in Ukraine changed little for months, the Russians began an advance in the eastern Donbas region from January. This advance was partly caused by rapidly increasing shortages of weapons and ammunition on the Ukrainian side. This was again the result of the interruption of military support from the United States. American arms aid was resumed at the end of April.
According to the US government, Moscow’s “continued disregard” for its obligations to the Chemical Weapons Convention comes “from the same playbook” as the operations that led to the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020 and former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018. The Russian nerve agent Novichok was used. Russia has always denied being involved.
New sanctions
Washington made its accusations about the Russian use of chemical weapons at the front in Ukraine on Wednesday when it announced almost three hundred new sanctions against companies and individuals, not only in Russia but also in third countries. Several Russian state institutions, companies and individuals involved in Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs have been placed on the US sanctions list. Other sanctions target Russia’s military-industrial complex and companies and individuals in third countries that help Moscow evade international sanctions in obtaining parts for weapons systems.
After the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia was imposed numerous international sanctions that should complicate the war and weaken the country’s economic base. But despite the many sanctions, Moscow still manages to obtain parts for its arms industry, including crucial high-quality Western technology for missiles and aircraft, for example. Russia receives many of these parts from other countries, including China.
According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the latest package of sanctions will help “further disrupt and weaken” Russia’s war machine. The US sanctions target, among others, sixty companies and individuals in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Slovakia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that “enable Russia to obtain much-needed technology and equipment from abroad.”
Washington’s measures ensure that the sanctioned companies are excluded from the US payment system, while US citizens and companies are banned from trading with them.
Chinese deliveries
Although Beijing denies that the country provides Russia with weapons or other military aid, the bulk of the technology that Russia seeks abroad for its war industry comes from China, according to the extensive US sanctions overview. This concerns, for example, two companies from Hengshui that supply large quantities of nitrocellulose to Russia, a raw material for explosives that are indispensable for firing rockets and other ammunition.
Two other Chinese companies, from Wuhan, appear to supply infrared detectors to a Russian company that produces military optical equipment. Yet another company, Juhang Aviation in Shenzhen, supplied Russia with 94 shipments of kamikaze drone parts, such as propellers, sensors, electronic too bad and engines.
During a visit to Beijing last month, Yellen had already warned that Chinese companies and banks that contribute to the Russian war machine could expect “serious consequences.”
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