“The United States is today sanctioning more than 280 individuals and entities to impose additional costs on Russia for both its foreign aggression and internal repression,” read a statement from the State Department.
The Department of State has imposed sanctions on over 80 entities and individuals, including the ones that are engaged in the development of Russia’s future energy, metals, and mining production and export capacity.
Further, it has determined that Russia has used chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
“The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident, and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield,” the statement read.
Chloropicrin has been listed as a banned choking agent by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is based in the Hague. The organisation was created to implement and monitor compliance with the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), Reuters reported.
During World War I, the German forces are believed to have fired the gas against Allied troops in one of the first uses of a chemical weapon.
Earlier, the Ukrainian military had alleged that Russia has stepped up its ‘illegal’ use of riot control agents to press its biggest advances in eastern Ukraine.
Besides chloropicrin, the Russian forces are also believed to have used grenades loaded with CS and CN gases, the Ukrainian military claimed. Further, it stated that around 500 Ukrainian soldiers have been treated for exposure to toxic substances, while one of them died by suffocating on tear gas.
On Wednesday, the US State Department announced that it was delivering to Congress its determination that Moscow’s use of chloropicrin against the Ukrainian troops violated the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The country’s use of chloropicrin “comes from the same playbook as its operations to poison” late opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020 as well as Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent, read the statement.
On its behalf, Russia had earlier denied involvement in both cases.
This comes as Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of breaching the treaty during the OPCW meetings. However, the organisation has stated that it has not been formally asked to start an investigation into the alleged use of prohibited substances in Ukraine.
