Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on yet another anti-Russia provocation by NATO countries and their allies at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Regrettably, we have to note that the Euro-Atlantic allies, led by the United States, have instigated yet another round of unrestrained politicisation of the agenda of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a once respected and purely technical international agency.

On October 9, the OPCW Technical Secretariat forwarded a note to Russia’s Permanent Mission to the OPCW from the German diplomatic mission on behalf of Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, with a demand for explanations, under paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (CWC), on the alleged use of riot control agents by the Russian military during the special military operation. This is yet another provocation, in this case based on the Kiev regime’s insinuations that Russia has allegedly been violating its obligations under paragraph 5 of Article 1 of the CWC. Thus, the “Skripal case” inspired by the British special services and a similar story by their German colleagues about the supposed “poisoning” of Alexei Navalny are followed by a new provocation, this time alleging the use of riot control chemicals for military purposes, which is prohibited by the CWC. In other words, the frenzied anti-Syria campaign at the OPCW with groundless accusations against Damascus of violating the Convention has given way to tendentious and brazen attacks on Russia.

As one of the originators of the drafting and enacting of the CWC, our country strictly adheres to every provision of this international treaty, and duly fulfills its obligations under the Convention. In September 2017, Russia completed the destruction of its chemical weapon stockpiles, production and storage facilities ahead of schedule. In this context, it should be noted that it took the United States, which has a far greater industrial, technological, material and financial potential, another six years, until July 2023, to complete the elimination of its declared chemical arsenals.

In the coming days, the Russian Federation will send a sufficiently illustrative material to the OPCW Technical Secretariat for transfer to the above-mentioned concerned NATO countries and their Japanese ally, containing evidence of a number of failed provocations by the Kiev regime, with the use of toxic chemicals and toxic substances, including riot control agents, with the aim of blaming the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for these crimes. The material can be found here.

In addition, as recently as October 6, Director-General of the OPCW Technical Secretariat Fernando Arias was personally provided with a report on the results of analysing the samples that Russian servicemen had taken in the vicinity of Rabotino, in extremely difficult conditions of hostilities, proving that Ukrainian militants and foreign mercenaries had used chemical agents from CWC Schedule 3, in violation of the Convention.

Russia, together with its partners and like-minded countries, will continue to make efforts to counter the destructive activities of the Euro-Atlantic allies and their satellites, led by the United States, for the sake of preserving the integrity of the CWC and restoring the credibility of the OPCW.