The US and Britain have warned that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine or set up a false flag operation to blame Ukraine.
This is associated with a statement made by the Russian Defense Ministry on March 9: they said that Ukraine was allegedly preparing provocations using toxic substances in order to “accuse Moscow of using chemical weapons.”
Thus, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasizes that this is a typical position of the Kremlin: to blame someone for the actions that the Russian Federation wants to do itself.
The Guardian, citing sources in the British government, also notes that official London expressed concern that the Kremlin wants to fabricate a pretext for the use of chemical weapons in the war it unleashed with Ukraine.
According to Britain, the Russian Federation can take such a step due to the fact that the plan to occupy Ukraine and seize Kyiv in three days completely failed.
Chemical weapons – what is it
Chemical is a type of weapon of mass destruction, which is based on the toxic effect of chemical warfare agents on the human body.
According to the special Convention of 1993, which was also signed by Russia, the development, use, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons is prohibited.
According to pro-Kremlin Russian media, on September 27, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the alleged elimination of all stocks of chemical weapons that the Russian Federation had.
It should be noted that after the collapse of the USSR, Russia inherited the world's largest stocks of chemical weapons, which amounted to about 40 thousand tons.
The main part of the chemical weapons then were poisonous substances such as mustard gas , soman , lewisite , sarin and V-gas , as well as a nerve agent called Novichok .
What cases of use of chemical weapons by Russia are known
In 2017, after Putin’s statement that Russia had allegedly destroyed 100% of the chemical weapons that were stored on its territory, it became known that Russian intelligence officers under the pseudonyms Petrov and Boshirov (Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga) poisoned Novichok Sergei Skripal with a military agent. and his daughter Julia. This happened in Britain.
In addition, it is known about the possible use of Novichok against oppositionist Alexei Navalny in 2020 and before that against other persons “objectionable” to the Kremlin authorities.
Russia provided chemical weapons to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria – according to the Berlin-based non-profit organization Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi), they were used there more than 300 times.
So, for example, ammunition with sarin was most likely used in April 2017 during an air strike on the city of Khan Sheikhoun (Idlib province). Then about 100 people died, more than 20 of them were children, and another 300 were poisoned to varying degrees.
In 2018, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stressed that Russia was responsible for the deaths in Eastern Ghouta and numerous other places in Syria that were victims of chemical weapons.
Chemicals that RF may possess: description, symptoms, duration of action
Lewisite appears as a dark brown liquid with a pungent, irritating odor. Refers to persistent poisonous substances of blistering action. Poisonous in any form of exposure to the human body.
It irritates the mucous membranes and respiratory organs. Signs of lewisite damage can be seen within 3-5 minutes after it hits the skin or in the body.
The severity of poisoning depends on the dose, as well as on the time spent in the contaminated atmosphere.
First of all, when inhaling vapors or aerosols, the upper respiratory tract is affected.
A mild form of poisoning disappears in a few days, a severe one is accompanied by headache, chest cramps, vomiting, shortness of breath, loss of voice and general weakness.
The organs of vision are very sensitive to lewisite: one drop of poison, if it enters the eye, leads to loss of vision in 7-10 days.
Lewisite is used for processing – in Russia, a plant was built for this in Kambarka (Udmurtia).
Mustard is a colorless, odorless oily substance (in its pure form). In technical form, it has a garlic-mustard smell and a yellow-brown color. It is poorly soluble in water, but unlimited in organic solvents such as oils, fats, gasoline, kerosene, acetone, carbon tetrachloride, alcohols and chloropicrin.
In addition, mustard gas can be mixed with other toxic substances – lewisite, ethyldichloroarsine and phenyldichloroarsine.
During the First World War, it was used as a blistering agent.
Causes damage to the skin, eyes, respiratory tract. Symptoms have a two-hour latent period, but if the skin is moist and the weather is hot, everything appears right there.
After contact with mustard gas, vesicles with a yellowish liquid appear on the skin, which heal for a long time and leave scars. If its concentration is high, death can occur in 2-5 minutes.
This substance can quickly penetrate textiles, building materials, paper and rubber, so that you can get poisoned through contact with a contaminated object.
The first signs of mustard gas poisoning are skin redness, itching and burning. The skin becomes dry, tight and warm.
At high doses of poison, a large number of small bubbles appear at the edges of the affected areas of the body in 16-30 hours, which then combine into one large one filled with a yellowish colorless liquid.
After they burst, painful ulcers remain on the skin, the healing of which takes more than 2 months.
Re-infection can lead to purulent inflammation and scarring.
Sarin is a substance that was probably used by Bashir Assad's regime in Syria. Colorless liquid, tasteless and odorless, very toxic. For military purposes, it is used as a nerve agent.
With sarin poisoning, motor skills are overexcited. Muscles and secretory glands involuntarily contract, which leads to convulsions that turn into paralysis.
Without the participation of consciousness, the heart, respiratory muscles, bladder, muscles of the digestive tract, pupils and much more contract.
The work of the organs is disturbed, sweating and salivation are observed.
Sarin poisoning can be caused by any method of entry into the body, from inhaling vapor to touching a substance/contaminated surface or ingesting poisoned water/food.
Also, like mustard gas, it is absorbed by environmental objects and tissues.
In the form of a liquid it is dangerous for up to 5 days, in the form of a gas – up to 20 hours, in winter its stability decreases.
Soman – in its pure form, a colorless liquid, has a fruity odor. Extremely toxic. In technical form, it may have a yellowish-straw color due to impurities.
Soman is about three times more toxic than sarin. These substances have similar poisoning symptoms, but soman is more difficult to treat.
In case of poisoning, miosis, muscle spasms and paralysis, severe sweating and salivation occur.
VX is a chemical warfare nerve agent considered to be one of the most toxic ever artificially produced for use in chemical weapons. It is a clear oily liquid with an amber color. Odorless and tasteless.
Symptoms upon admission: in 1-2 minutes – the pupils narrow, in 2-4 minutes – sweating and increased salivation appear, in 5-10 minutes – paralysis, convulsions and spasms. 10-15 minutes – death.
When infected through the skin, symptoms appear after a while – from several minutes to hours. Muscle twitching appears at the site of the chemical weapon hit, then convulsions, weakness and paralysis.
They can infect closed reservoirs for a very long period – up to six months. But the main combat state is an aerosol, which can infect the surface layers of air and spread in the direction of the wind to a depth of 5 to 20 km.
It infects the terrain, military equipment and weapons.
It can be used through artillery, aviation and chemical bombs. Drops of VX can contaminate ammunition and military equipment. In this case, this substance is most dangerous in winter: it works from 30 to 60 days, in summer – for 1-3 days.
On the ground, its resistance in summer is from 7 to 15 days, in winter – until the onset of heat.
Novichok is a chemical weapon developed by the Russian State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology. It is used in a wide range of poisons and medicines.
There are several variants of Novichok in total, some of them have been adapted for military use and specially designed in order to make it as difficult as possible to detect him.
There is very little official information about the Newcomers. They are supposed to be 5-10 times more poisonous than VX.
A classified US Army report published in The Washington Times claimed that some newcomers are as venomous as VX, as difficult to treat as Soman, and harder to detect and easier to produce than VX.
Usually beginners have neither tastes nor smells, most often they are liquids, but there are also solid ones.
Most often, beginners scatter as an ultra-fine powder.
Novichok can enter the body through inhalation, skin contact and ingestion.
Symptoms of novice poisoning include miosis, wheezing in the lungs, increased sweating, difficulty breathing, and wheezing in the lungs. Respiratory and cardiac arrest possible. Vomiting, involuntary defecation and urination, convulsions are manifested.
Those who survive novice poisoning suffer permanent organ damage, muscle damage, and possibly long-term nerve damage.
