The OPCW sent a team to Ukraine at the request of Kyiv.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it found traces of tear gas in samples taken in October on the front line in Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk region. TASR informs about it based on a Reuters report.
The use of the so-called means of suppressing riots, e.g. tear gas is prohibited as a method of warfare under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Its compliance is monitored by the OPCW.
The organization sent its team to Ukraine at the request of Kyiv. Its experts were not mandated to assign blame, but Ukraine and the US say Russia illegally used tear gas to clear the trenches.
Analysis of samples by two independent laboratories showed that the chemical, known as CS (2-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile), was contained in both the grenade from the trench and soil taken nearby, the announcement said. The findings are expected to be discussed at a meeting of the OPCW’s 193 member states next week in The Hague.
