The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating the international chemical weapons ban by using chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces. As a method of warfare, the Russian forces used choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops, claimed the US. 

“The Department of State has made a determination under the CBW Act that Russia has used the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC),” an official statement reads. 

The Department of State added that 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. 

Washington announced sanctions on foreign military financing, US Government lines of credit, and export licences for defence articles and national security-sensitive items going to Moscow. 

It also imposed restrictions on three Russian goissued sanctions on three Russian government entities associated with Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs and four Russian companies that have contributed to such entities.

“The United States will continue to use the tools at its disposal to disrupt support for Russia’s military-industrial base and curtail Russia’s use of the international financial system to further its war against Ukraine. We continue to stand in solidarity with Russians striving for a more democratic future and with Ukrainians defending their homeland from Russia’s aggression,” it said.

According to reports, Chloropicrin is listed as a banned choking agent by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which was created to implement and monitor compliance with the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

In one of its first uses, the German forces used the chemical weapon against the allied troops during the World War I.