The statements of the former US Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Sullivan that Moscow is allegedly hatching plans to use chemical weapons in the zone of the Russian special operation to protect the Donbass are regarded by the Russian military as the intention of the United States itself to carry out a provocation using toxic chemicals in Ukraine. This was announced on February 28 by Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops (RCBZ) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
According to Kirillov, preparations for a provocation have already begun “in full swing” in the United States. The Russian military is aware that on February 10, chemicals were delivered to Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in a train car, accompanied by foreign citizens.
It is known that in total there were 16 sealed metal boxes in the car, half of which had the inscription BZ – a sign of chemical danger, as well as marking with two red lines, which corresponds to the class of poisonous substances with a temporary detoxifying effect.
“This chemical causes acute psychosis, loss of orientation, hallucinations, memory impairment,” the head of the RKhBZ troops said at a briefing, recalling that the use of BZ is prohibited by Article 1 of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
It was also established that the railway car was towed to the territory of the Kramatorsk Metallurgical Plant named after Kuibyshev. There, the chemicals were unloaded under the control of employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and representatives of the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, 11 wagons with irritating ammunition were also unloaded in Kramatorsk.
Earlier in the day, Kirillov said the United States had retained samples of the BZ poisoning agent, which had been declared completely destroyed over 30 years earlier. According to him, back in 1990, Washington reported about the disposal of about 50 tons of BZ, although its strains were retained.
On February 10, US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins announced that the United States intends to complete the process of destroying all of its chemical weapons this spring.
In March 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense also talked about the existence in Ukraine of a network of biological laboratories operating under the Pentagon program. According to the agency, American scientists tested potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients in a Kharkiv psychiatric hospital from 2019 to 2021.
In April last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported a very real threat of chemical terrorism from Ukrainian nationalists. As Oleg Syromolotov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, said then, Kyiv is hatching plans for chemical provocations in the Donbass. The Russian Foreign Ministry also did not rule out the repetition of “acts of terrorism against enterprises with toxic substances.”
The special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
