America has accused Russia of using chloropicrin chemical weapons in the war against Ukraine. Their foreign office claims that the Russian army has used a chemical called ‘Chloropicrin’ on the battlefield. This can cause the suffocation, or even death, of the opposing army. The Kremlin dismissed all the allegations as “baseless.” Europe is not taking America’s demands lightly. French President Emmanuel Macron threatened today that “if Russia shows force and if Ukraine asks, France will bring down its ground forces.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press conference in Moscow that Russia has long complied with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). 193 countries signed this agreement. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has a specific body to check whether all countries are complying with this rule. The chemical named by America, ‘Chloropicrin’, was used in World War I. It is an oily substance. It enters the body and starts inflammation in the lungs, eyes, and skin. Vomiting starts. Along with diarrhea, dizziness.
Russia allegedly used the chemical to disperse Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. According to the CWC, the use of chloropicrin in war is prohibited. It is listed as a ‘choking agent’ in the OPCW’s list. The US State Department claims that Moscow has regularly used this agent in war. Apart from this, ‘riot control agents’ or tear gas has been spread.
America has been warning Russia since the beginning of the war about using chemical weapons. Immediately after the start of the war, American President Joe Biden said in March 2022, “Russia will have to suffer the consequences if it uses chemical weapons.” They used various agents. Earlier this year, news agency Reuters claimed in their report that Russian forces fired CS and CN tear gas grenades. Poison gas sickened at least 500 Ukrainian soldiers. Death also occurred.
Allegations that Russia has a stockpile of chemical weapons are not new. In 2017, the OPCW reported that Russia had destroyed a large stockpile of weapons dating back to the Cold War. In 2017, Moscow was accused of the ‘Salisbury attack’ on the former Soviet intelligence chief. In 2020, the then-Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was also accused of using a nerve agent.
