On Tuesday, Russian Chief of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov accused the US of planning to “stage a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals.”
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Kirillov pointed out that former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan’s 22 February statement, regarding Russian troops “allegedly planning to use chemical weapons in the special military operation zone” in Ukraine, proved that it was actually Washington and its allies plotting to do so, and for which, preparations were going on in “full swing.”
The US intends to organize a provocation in Ukraine using toxic substances, while blaming Russia, Igor Kirillov, head of the RCBZ troops.
— Dagny Taggart (@DagnyTaggart963) February 28, 2023
He stressed that Washington expects that in the conditions of hostilities in Ukraine, their provocation will not be effectively investigated.
Russia’s Evidence
Giving more details, Kirillov revealed that chemicals were delivered in a rail car to the Kuibyshev metals works in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, and unloaded by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other military officials on 10 February.
He alleged that there were 16 boxes in the rail car, of which eight had the marking of a chemical hazard, known as BZ, which “causes acute psychosis, the loss of orientation, hallucinations, and memory disorders.”
General Kirillov went on to say that using BZ is banned under Article 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention, adding that the cargo had five boxes of ‘CS Riot’ and three boxes of ‘CR Riot’ labels marked by one red stripe, meant to denote irritant agents.
"The #wagon was uncoupled and towed to the #territory of the #Kramatorsk #Metallurgical Plant named after Kuibyshev, where #chemicals were unloaded under the #control of the #security #service of #Ukraine and representatives of the #command of the #armedforces of #Ukraine," he
— Salina Reddy (@ReddySalina) February 28, 2023
“The cargo was placed into US-made armoured vehicles that set off for the engagement line as part of a military convoy,” he noted, further accusing Ukraine of unloading 11 rail cars worth of modern shrapnel shells containing liquid irritant agent formulas for its armed forces in Kramatorsk on 19 February.
West Supplied Individual Protection Gear for Ukrainian Forces
General Kirillov disclosed that the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center arranged the delivery of a huge consignment of individual protection gear for the Ukrainian forces.
The consignment reportedly included 600,000 antidote capsules against organophosphorus chemical agents, more than 3 million anti-spasmodic tablets and detoxification preparations, 55,000 gas masks, and 13,000 individual anti-chemical packets.
Kirillov claimed that the explanation given for this delivery was that Russian troops had already used “phosphorus munitions and could employ chemical agents in the predicted escalation of the situation.”
“The facts of the simultaneous delivery of toxic chemicals and means of protection against them testify to the attempt to stage large-scale provocations using the BZ combat psychotropic chemical agent in the conflict zone,” he emphasised.
The US had widely used BZ in the Vietnam war.
US Expects to Blame Russia for Chemical Warfare
Kirillov pointed out that the US and its partners expected that “the international community will not be able to launch an effective investigation” regarding the toxic chemicals that Ukraine is planning to use against Russia, such that “the real organisers and perpetrators could escape responsibility, while the blame would be shifted on Russia.”
However, he gave an assurance that Moscow “will identify and punish the true culprits,” as Russian labs can identify such chemicals’ country of origin.