FLASH
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The United States accused Russia on Wednesday of violating the treaty banning chemical weapons during the war in Ukraine by using an asphyxiating chemical substance and a variety of riot control agents as "means of war" in Ukraine. "The use of these materials is not an isolated incident and was likely prompted by Russian troops' intentions to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical victory on the battlefield," the State Department said in a statement. .
The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment by Reuters by the time of publication of this article. The chemical substance chloropicrin (PS) is an irritant with characteristics of a tear gas and is listed as a banned substance by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), created to oversee the implementation of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the Ukrainian military had claimed that Russia had increased its use of (chemical) riot control agents as it seeks to make advances in eastern Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian data, 500 soldiers have received medical attention for exposure to toxic substances and one soldier has died as a result of suffocation from tear gas. While during protests civilians can escape chemical substances for riot control, soldiers trapped in trenches without masks must either flee in case of enemy attack or risk suffocation. The State Department said it would notify Congress of its determination that Russia's use of the substance against Ukrainian troops violated the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Moscow's use of the gas follows its own poisoning operations, the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent. Russia has denied involvement in both cases. The statement said that the State Department has determined that Russia has also violated the ban on the use of chemical agents for riot control as a means of warfare. The department announced it would impose sanctions on three Russian state entities linked to its chemical and biological weapons programs. Sanctions were also imposed on 4 companies that supported these three entities./VOA
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