US confirms that Russia uses banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian Armed Forces
The US State Department, in justifying the new sanctions against Russia, has indicated that Russian troops used the banned chemical substance chloropicrin against the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Source: European Pravda; statement by the State Department
Details: The US State Department states that Russia used chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and also used riot control agents, violating the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
"The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident, and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield," the State Department notes.
Speaking about Russia's disregard for its obligations to ban the use of chemical weapons, the United States drew parallels with the poisoning of opposition politician Alexei Navalny and Sergei and Yulia Skripal with the Novichok nerve agents.
In this regard, the US State Department imposed sanctions on the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the Russian Defence Ministry, the Russian Research Institute for Applied Acoustics and the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defenсe Ministry, which are engaged in the development of chemical weapons.
Four companies involved in Russia's chemical weapons programme were also sanctioned.
Background: Earlier, the US Treasury Department announced the introduction of sanctions against almost 200 individuals and legal entities, contributing to Russia's military-industrial complex and helping it evade the restrictions already imposed.
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