Russia's Chemical Warfare in Ukraine and Beyond

Over 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been hospitalized and at least three have been killed due to chemical poisoning since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, announced Ukrainian Colonel Artem Vlasiuk, Head of Environmental Safety and Civil Protection.

The use of chemical weapons is strictly prohibited under international law under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), of which Russia and Ukraine are both signatories. 

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, 4,800 cases involving the use of dangerous chemicals by Russian forces have been documented, Vlasiuk said. Over the past few months in September 2024 there have been 277 recorded cases, October 2024, 356 cases, and in November 2024, 166 cases, he added.

Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Radiation, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces was eliminated when a device hidden in a scooter was remotely detonated outside a residential block early on December 17, 2024. 

Ukraine’s Security Services (SBU) said that Kirillov was "responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons" and added that he had carried out war crimes, therefore was a “legitimate target". On December 16, the day before his death, the SBU charged Kirillov in absentia (i Trial in-absentia refers to the trial in a Court of law in the absence of the accused.)  for his war crimes.  

Russia and Kirillov himself had claimed to have “destroyed its stockpiles of chemical weapons in September 2007,” however, reports and incidents of their use continued.

The UK sanctioned Kirillov in October for the use of chemical weapons, the widespread use of riot control agents, and multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin. 

“The UK will not sit idly by whilst Putin and his mafia state ride roughshod over international law, including the Chemical Weapons Convention,” said David Lammy, the UK’s foreign secretary. “Russia’s cruel and inhumane tactics on the battlefield are abhorrent.” 

John Healey, the UK’s defense secretary said that the UK is “cracking down on those responsible for these horrific chemical attacks in Ukraine” and that the UK government “will not allow such blatant violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and rules-based international order to go unpunished.”

What chemical weapons has Russia used against Ukraine?

“Russians are most actively using gas grenades of the type K-51, RG-VO, which are usually used to suppress mass disturbances,” wrote Vlasiuk. “However, the use of these tools as weapons against the military is prohibited.” 

Vlasiuk stressed that Ukraine does not use chemical weapons, "These means are prohibited for use, therefore, Ukraine, as a signatory to the CWC, and its Armed Forces, which are the guarantors of its independence and sovereignty, adhere to international law and the requirements of the Chemical Weapons Convention in particular." 

CS gas: K-51 grenade

An independent investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that Russian forces had used the chemical weapon 2-Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile known as CS or tear gas. Their recent report was based on an analysis of a grenade shell and two soil samples collected from a trench. 

CS gas is mostly found in Soviet-made K-51 hand grenades. It is a strong irritant that causes burning sensations in the respiratory tract and involuntary closing of the eyes. In November 2022 Ukraine’s State Border Service reported that several were dropped onto Ukrainian positions by drones operated by Russian Forces. Ukrainian World Congress reported that they’ve been used by Russia since the war began in 2014. 

In 2009, the Volgograd State Medical University Mobilization Training Department (under Russia’s Federal Healthcare and Social Development Agency) published training material for students which states "Currently, irritant agents are in service with the Russian armed forces and law enforcement agencies.”

CN chemical: RG-VO grenade

Russian RG-VO grenades containing the poisonous chemical chloroacetophenone (CN) have been found to be used against Ukraine since December 2023. CN is a potent eye, throat, and skin irritant and is the main component of Mace, a chemical widely used for riot control. RG-VO stands for “hand grenade-toxicant agent” in Russian.

“Approximately 70 drops of CN is enough to kill an adult,” according to Captain Andrii Rudyk from the Central Scientific Research Institute of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Ukrainian Research Institute of Special Equipment and Forensic Expertise has detected and seized CN-filled RG-VO grenades for investigation. Their research revealed that it was manufactured industrially and traced it back to Russian production. 

Chloropicrin (PS)

US State Department officials in May 2024 said that Russia had used the choking agent Chloropicrin to “dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield.”

Chloropicrin causes irritation of the lungs, eyes, and skin, as well as vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea, according to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC). It was widely used during World War I and stockpiled during World War II but is no longer authorized for military use. 

Russian-backed Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons

Sarin

Sarin is a toxic nerve agent that can cause death in minutes. It is generally odorless and tasteless. Sarin is usually absorbed into the body by inhalation, ingestion, skin, or eye contact. Sarin has been declared as a weapon of mass destruction. 

The FSB  reportedly admitted to killing Ibn al-Khattab, a Saudi-born militant who fought alongside Chechen militants in Russia's North Caucasus during the 1990s and early 2000s. Khattab handled a letter laced with what was likely to be Sarin. The FSB reportedly paid a Daghestani double agent to deliver the letter. 

The UN says the nerve agent sarin has been used by the Syrian government several times—most notably in an attack on Ghouta in 2013 killing 1700 people, and in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017, killing hundreds. Reports estimate that there were at least 85 chemical weapon attacks during the Syrian war. 

Russia has not been found to directly use chemical weapons in Syria, but continued to support Bashar Al-Assads regime which used chemical weapons against civilians on several occasions. 

In September 2013, Russia agreed “to the framework for the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons – a diplomatic understanding between the United States and Russia requiring the verifiable destruction of Syria’s entire chemical weapons stockpile,” according to the US Embassy in Russia.

In doing so, Russia assumed responsibility as the guarantor for ensuring that its Syrian allies cease all use of chemical weapons, therefore “Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims and countless Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria.”

Russia attempted, on several occasions, to challenge accusations of Syrian government responsibility for several Sarin attacks by blaming opposition fighters. However, Russia inadvertently produced evidence that the Syrian government was responsible while presenting its response to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – UN Joint Mission (OPCW-UN JIM).

Russia’s assassination attempts through chemical weapons

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union had the world’s largest stockpile of chemical weapons. The OPCW confirmed it held almost 40,000 metric tons of chemical agents, including VX nerve gas, sarin, soman, mustard gas, and phosgene.

In 2017 the OPCW stated that Russia destroyed 39,967 metric tons of chemical weapons according to the CWC. It’s clear however that since then, Russia has been using chemical weapons in their war against Ukraine violating the CWC. 

Russia has historically used chemical agents to eliminate and assassinate many targets, several cases being after Russia “destroyed all chemical weapons”. 

Novichok

Novichok means 'newcomer' in Russian and is a series of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s under a program codenamed Foliant. 

Nerve agents are highly toxic substances that affect the nervous system. They can cause loss of consciousness and convulsions within seconds, and death from respiratory failure within minutes of exposure. Nerve agents come in different forms such as gas and powder, but they tend to be a liquid, which can seep through the skin.

Novichok is more potent than other nerve agents, blocking messages from the nerves to the muscles, and causing many bodily functions to collapse. Larger doses cause continuous convulsions and vomiting leading to a fatal outcome. 

Novichoks were never declared to the OPCW during the destruction of their chemical weapons in 2017 due to uncertainty about their chemical structures, according to Professor Alastair Hay at the University of Leeds.

Novichok was used in the poisoning of a former Russian spy in 2018, in the UK. Both Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia were hospitalised. Russia accused Sergei of spying for Britain's MI6 and jailed him in 2006. Later Sergei was pardoned and settled in the UK in 2010.

A murder inquiry was later launched after a British woman sprayed herself with a bottle of perfume that contained a “significant amount” of Novichok “enough to kill thousands”, the inquiry heard. Dawn Sturgess, mother-of-three was fatally poisoned after buying the perfume from a charity shop just a few miles from where the Skripals were poisoned. 

Alexei Navalny, a critic of Putin, was poisoned with Novichok in August 2020. A small team specializing in toxins and nerve agents working for Russia’s Security Services FSB, followed Navalny on more than 30 trips before ultimately poisoning him, CNN and Bellingcat open source investigators found. 

A Russian agent Konstantin Kudryavtsev, was sent to clean up the Novichok. Kudryavtsev admitted during a phone call with Navalny, who was undercover posing as an FSB officer, that the nerve agent had been hidden in his underpants.

Unidentified poison:

Anti-Kremlin activist and member of the punk protest band Pussy Riot, Pyotr Verzilov, was flown to Berlin after falling seriously ill in Russia. German doctors said in September 2018, that it was “highly plausible” that he was poisoned as something had disrupted the nerves that regulate his internal organs.

Polonium:

Pollonium-210 is a radioactive chemical element that becomes very toxic when it emits radiation. It can be fatal in very small amounts. Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned when pollonium was dropped in his tea in London in 2006. 

TCDD:

The third president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with hazardous amounts of TCDD. He suffered disfigurement as a result. Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin or dioxin (TCDD) is generally considered by scientists as the “most toxic synthetic molecule known.” Yushchenko was poisoned in 2004 while running for president against Ukraine’s fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych.

Tests on Yushchenko revealed that he had the second-highest concentration of TCDD ever recorded in a human.

Unknown poison: 

Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative journalist, human rights activist, and Kremlin critic while on a flight from Moscow to southern Russia fell violently ill. She believed that she was poisoned by the FSB in September 2004. She survived the poisoning but was shot dead in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building two years later.