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Briefing by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Chief NBC Protection Troops of the RF Armed Forces, on large-scale provocations using toxic chemicals in Ukraine prepared by the West. Analysis of documents related to radiation security threats.

On February 22, an influential US non-governmental organisation held a conference on the events in Ukraine. During this event, former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan made a statement; “Russian troops plan to use chemical weapons in the special military operation area…”

We regard this information as the intention of the United States itself and its accomplices to carry out a provocation using toxic chemicals in Ukraine.

They expect that the international community will be unable to organise an effective investigation amid hostilities, so that the real organisers and perpetrators may escape accountability, and the blame is going to be put on Russia.

In our opinion, the preparations are in full swing. In early 2023, the Euro Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre planned to supply a large shipment of individual protection equipment to Ukraine. As a justification, it is indicated “… Russian troops have already used phosphorus ammunition and could use poisonous agents in a foreseeable escalation of the situation …”

The supplied materiel lists over 55 000 sets of individual protective gear, 55 000 gas masks, 13 000 individual gas casualty first-aid kits. Priority is given to antidotes for organophosphorus toxic agents such as sarin and soman — 600 000 ampoules, anticonvulsants — 3 million tablets, detoxification medications for mustard gas, lewisite and chloracetophenone inhibitors of hydrocyanic acid — 750 thousand vials.

In addition, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation was informed that on 10 February 2023, a train arrived in Ukraine (Kramatorsk), with a cargo of chemicals in one of its cars, accompanied by a group of foreign nationals.

The car was detached and towed to the territory of the Kuibyshev metallurgical plant in Kramatorsk, where it was unloaded under the control of Security Service of Ukraine and AFU command representatives.

The cargo included 16 sealed metal containers, eight of which had a chemical hazard label, BZ inscription and markings with two red bands, corresponding to the category of incapacitating agents.

Five of the containers were labelled as “C-S-RIOT” and three as “C-R-RIOT” with a single red band, which corresponds to the class of irritant agents.

The cargo was placed on US-manufactured armoured vehicles moving towards the line of contact in a convoy.

On February 19, 11 cars loaded with specially marked shrapnel ammunition were unloaded in Kramatorsk. The unloading took place at night on a platform in the suburbs, and the cars were labelled “Construction materials” and “Cement”.

According to information available to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the US Army had previously upgraded its shrapnel shells to be loaded with ready-to-use, liquid formulations of irritant agents.

The facts of the simultaneous delivery of toxic chemicals and means of protection against them testify to an attempt to carry out large-scale provocations using the BZ military incapacitating agent during the conflict.

I recall that under the Chemical Weapons Convention, BZ agent is a controlled and a Schedule 2 chemical, and its use is prohibited under Article 1 of the CWC.

This chemical causes acute phrenoplegia, disorientation, hallucinations, and memory impairment.

BZ is a standard toxic agent of the US Army and was widely used during the Vietnam War.

The United States and its allies have repeatedly used chemical munitions in the military conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The United States declared the complete elimination of stocks of BZ back in 1990, when about 50 tonnes of the substance were disposed of, while samples were kept. In addition, the synthesis of BZ precursors at pharmaceutical production facilities in the amount of up to several tens of tonnes per year is still possible.

We have repeatedly noted that Western leadership regularly makes provocative statements about the possibility of Russia using weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, similar projects have been implemented many times by the United States itself to achieve political goals. In such a way, a vial of “washing powder” in the hands of US Secretary of State Colin Powell served a pretext to invade Iraq and reason of death of over half a million Iraqi citizens.

In 2017, the photos of the White Helmets reproduced by media outlets, showing people wearing ordinary gauze bandages and collecting samples at the sites of alleged use of sarin resulted in the US carrying a missile strike against the Shayrat airbase in Syria.

In 2018, the staged videos of children allegedly exposed to chlorine in the Syrian city of Douma led to the destruction of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in Barzah and Jamrayah.

I would like to remind that no one has been held accountable for those crimes so far.

The US compliance with its obligations under the CWC is obviously discriminative by nature. Any restrictions under this treaty that undermine the American interests are ignored with the direct connivance of the Organisation for the Protection of Chemical Weapons.

For example, in violation of Article 1 of the Convention and 1925 Geneva Protocol, the United States Department of Defence legalised the whole range of chemical substances as weapons of war. Its use is envisaged with a wide spectrum of standard ammunition.

I would like to warn that Russian stationary and mobile CBRN monitoring systems deployed in the area of the special military operation make it possible to identify chemical threats in a timely manner and promptly respond to them. It is therefore erroneous for the West to count on being successful in carrying out provocations involving toxic chemicals in a warfare environment.

The analytical capabilities of the chemical laboratories of the Russian Ministry of Defence render it possible to reliably determine the type of the chemical used, and also the country of origin.

In that way, the information presented on the slide on the use of improvised munitions against Russian troops by UAVs is widely known.

The available investigations demonstrated that they were thermal munitions that contained flammable oxidisers and additives, some of which had been produced in the Czech Republic.

We warn that in the event of provocation using toxic chemicals the real perpetrators will be identified and punished.

We shall continue our work to unshroud the criminal activities of the West conducted in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. — Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation