cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3803490

Archived version

Russia has carried out over 10,000 chemical weapons attacks against Ukrainian forces since the start of its full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported on July 30.

The agency said Russian troops have repeatedly used prohibited chemical agents, including K-51, RGR, and RG-VO aerosol grenades loaded with CS (chlorobenzylidene malonitrile) and CN (chloroacetophenone), both banned irritants.

The use of such agents is prohibited under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia ratified.

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In a July 4 report, the Netherlands Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) confirmed that Russia had escalated from deploying riot control agents to using chloropicrin — a chemical capable of killing in confined spaces.

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  • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    After Iraq don’t keep wrongly claiming chemical weapon usage. Nobody will take it serious when it will really happen.

    There mustn’t be any doubt if chemical weapons are used because strong actions have to be taken.

    Russia is toeing the line, and it is in a sense chemical warfare, but it is just at the border of being prohibited.

    In a July 4 report, the Netherlands Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) confirmed that Russia had escalated from deploying riot control agents to using chloropicrin — a chemical capable of killing in confined spaces.

    This is only prohibited if it is deployed to kill, not if it is a casualty. Revolting in itself, but that’s the state of the law.

    Although these chemicals are not specifically listed as controlled by the CWC, the use of any toxic chemical as a weapon (when used to produce fatalities solely or mainly through its toxic action) is in and of itself forbidden by the treaty. Other chemicals, such as white phosphorus,[10] are highly toxic but are legal under the CWC when they are used by military forces for reasons other than their toxicity.[

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Weapons_Convention

    Chloropicrin is harmful to humans. It can be absorbed systemically through inhalation, ingestion, and the skin. At high concentrations, it is severely irritating to the lungs, eyes, and skin.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloropicrin

    So usually not even deadly.

    The joke is that Californian workers seem to have been exposed regularly and nobody cared. It should be common sense to have buffer zones.

    In California, experience with acute effects of chloropicrin when used as a soil fumigant for strawberries and other crops led to the release of regulations in January 2015 creating buffer zones and other precautions to minimize exposure to farm workers, neighbors, and passersby.[