Statement by the MFA of Ukraine regarding the facts of the Russian Federation’s violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has thoroughly studied the second report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons regarding the results of the OPCW Technical Assistance Visit to Ukraine and the conclusions regarding the evidence provided by Ukraine of the Russian Federation’s violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
The OPCW experts, in line with the appropriate procedures, have analyzed the materials provided by Ukraine, including four Russian RG-Vo type gas grenades and corresponding soil and grass samples.
As a result, two independent OPCW designated laboratories have confirmed that the evidence provided by Ukraine contains CS substance, which is a part of riot controlagents.
The Ukrainian side consistently informs the international community of the Russian Federation’s systematic use of hazardous chemicals against Ukraine, in particularRussian RG-Vo type gas grenades. Thus, in the period from February 2023 to February 2025, there have been documented 6,129 cases of the use by Russian occupation forces of munitions containing hazardous chemicals, including 2-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS), chloroacetophenone (CN), as well as chloropicrin and mercaptans (malodorants).
Such actions of the Russian Federation constitute a blatant violation of paragraph 5 of Article 1 of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
The latest OPCW report confirms the systematic nature of the crimes committed by the Russian Federation, which deliberately undermines the pillars of global security architecture and weakens the principles of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The leadership of the Russian Federation, while pretending to be willing to cease its armed aggression against Ukraine, openly mocks the international community and undermines global efforts aimed at achieving a world free of chemical weapons.
Ukraine has sufficient evidence of violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention by the Russian Federation and will call upon the international community to take decisive actions, in particular through the independent and expert work of the OPCW with the support of partners.
The international community must demonstrate its unity in countering the aggressor, and a practical element of this should be the establishment of an international coalition to hold the Russian Federation accountable for the violation of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
True peace can only be achieved through force, not appeasement of the aggressor."
