Ukraine and Russia have violated the ban on chemical weapon use in war, but has Ukraine gone a step further?
Guest post by Lawrence Sellin
Both Ukraine and Russia signed and ratified the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
Article I (5) of the Convention states: “Each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare.”
Article II (7) defines “Riot Control Agent” as: “Any chemical not listed in a Schedule, which can produce rapidly in humans, sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure.”
Videos from Russian and Ukrainian sources released online show that chemical weapons as defined above are being used in the Ukraine war.
The following video shows a riot control agent being deployed against Russian troops from a Ukrainian drone in clear violation of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
(Video, Ukrainian drone tear gas attack)
It appears that the Russians have also used riot control agents against Ukrainian positions, but in the following video no Ukrainian soldiers appear to have been affected.
(Video, Russian drone tear gas attack)
One of the reasons given for including riot control agents in the 1993 Chemical Weapons Conventions was that their use in war might lead to the deployment of more dangerous chemical agents.
Has that happened?
A recently published Gateway Pundit article, included a Ukrainian-made and Ukrainian-distributed video of a Russian soldier flailing in a waist-deep, watered-filled ditch unable to right himself after another accompanying Russian soldier apparently died from unknown causes.
Additional analysis has been done on that video, which confirms and expands upon the initial observations presented in the original Gateway Pundit article.
Relevant screenshots are presented in an attempt to ascertain what had occurred, even though the video is edited, often unclear and may not show sequential events.
Two types of high explosive munitions are shown in the video, a F1 fragmentation hand grenade and a 30mm VOG-17M.
Based on the video evidence, it is possible that the first Russian soldier was killed by the F1 hand grenade dropped from the Ukrainian drone, but the lead (second) Russian soldier appeared unaffected by it.
The lead (second) Russian soldier was already flailing and unable to right himself in waist-deep water before the second, 30mm VOG-17M, munition was dropped from the drone.
The cause of the flailing was obviously edited out of the video.
Seizure or convulsive-like responses are more characteristic of chemical weapon use than injuries sustained from high explosive munitions.
Hydrogen cyanide and nerve gas can cause seizures or convulsions, the former agent being easier to obtain, handle and deploy.
Clearly, both Ukraine and Russia have violated the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention by their use of riot control agents.
It appears that these actions are becoming more dangerous which is certainly worthy of investigation.
Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. He had a civilian career in international business and medical research. Dr. Sellin is the author of Restoring the Republic: Arguments for a Second American Revolution. His email address is [email protected].
