chemical weapons watchdog concerned by mariupol reports

US President Joe Biden warned last month of a “real threat” Russia may use chemical weapons in Ukraine, repeating earlier allegations from the White House. “And we’re in direct conversation with partners to try to determine what’s actually going on.” “We share that information with Ukraine and other partners,” Blinken said. “But let me say that we had credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, that would cause stronger symptoms to weaken, incapacitate… Ukrainian fighters and civilians, as part of the aggressive campaign. “We’re not in a position to confirm anything, I don’t think Ukrainians are either,” Blinken told reporters. In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also addressed the reports coming from Mariupol.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said the government was checking unverified information that Russia may have used chemical weapons while besieging Mariupol. The statement added that the use of chemical weapons anywhere under any circumstances was “reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the international community against such use”. “All 193 OPCW Member States, including the Russian Federation and Ukraine, are parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty of major importance in the field of disarmament that has been in force since 1997.” The Secretariat is concerned by the recent unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol, which has been carried out in the media over the past 24 hours, ”the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement.

“The Technical Secretariat of the OPCW is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine. Reports first emerged late on Monday from Ukraine’s Azov battalion that a Russian drone had dropped a “poisonous substance” on troops and civilians in Mariupol. The world’s chemical weapons watchdog has said it was “concerned” about reports of the use of chemical weapons in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

Chemical weapons watchdog concerned by mariupol reports