In a statement, the US State Department accuses Russia of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention during its operations in Ukraine. The United States alleges that Russia has used a chemical agent, chloropicrin, against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Convention, according to a statement issued by the State Department on Wednesday

In addition, Russia is using riot control agents as a ‘method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the Convention’, the statement added.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chloropicrin is a chemical that has been used as a warfare agent and as a pesticide and, if inhaled, poses a health risk.

The State Department also writes that ‘the use of these chemicals is not an isolated incident and is likely motivated by the desire of Russian forces to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and make tactical advances on the battlefield’.

At the same time, on Wednesday Washington announced a new series of sanctions targeting Russian and foreign companies and individuals accused of participating in the Russian war effort to invade Ukraine. The sanctions target Russian defence companies, Chinese entities and several research units and companies involved in Russian chemical and biological weapons programmes.

The State Department stresses that ‘Russia’s continued disregard for its obligations under the CWC is consistent with the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and Sergei and Yulia Skripal with Novichok nerve agents’. Alexei Navalny, a former opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin who died on 16 February, was the victim of a serious poisoning attack that he blamed on the Kremlin. Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned in England in 2018.