Claims of tear gas use against Ukrainian troops ‘insufficiently substantiated’

Allegations of the use of tear gas and riot control agents as weapons of war by Russian forces in Ukraine are ‘insufficiently substantiated’, according to the international chemical weapons watchdog. This follows an announcement from the US Department of State, on 1 May, that it was imposing new measures on Russia for its use of chemical weapons, including chloropicrin, against Ukraine.

On 7 May, a spokesperson for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that the secretariat had been monitoring the situation in Ukraine since February 2022 and that the situation remained ‘volatile and extremely concerning’ regarding the possible re-emergence of the use of toxic chemicals as weapons.

However, it said that the information provided so far by both Russia and Ukraine on accusations of chemical weapon use was not backed up by enough evidence to reach a conclusion.