His assassination has raised the temperature between Ukraine and Russia. But who was the head of Russia’s nuclear defense forces? Why would Ukraine choose to assassinate him and not someone else?
Since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian soldiers have reported constant use of chemical weapons, mainly tear gas, whose use on the battlefield is illegal. The US and UK go further in their accusations and say that Russia is using another toxic agent, chloropicrin, which was first used with horrific results in the trenches of World War I.
Behind this effort are the radiological, chemical and biological defense groups of the Russian Defense Ministry, known as RKhBZ. The US and UK say it is a specialist unit, partly responsible for using chemical agents on the battlefield, and was headed by Igor Kirillov, who was killed in Moscow by a bomb hidden on a scooter in an attack that held from Kiev.
The banned chloropicrin
Ukraine reports that since the full invasion began in February 2022, more than 2,000 people have been hospitalized. Multiple media outlets, citing soldiers’ accounts, are reporting that small unmanned aerial vehicles (FPVs) are being used to drop gas grenades on Ukrainian positions, suffocating defenseless soldiers or forcing them into the countryside to escape.
In May, the US said Russia was using tear gas and other riot control on the battlefield – and also chloropicrin. Chloropicrin, banned by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the battlefield, is a faint yellow liquid that, when released near humans, causes choking, dizziness, severe eye pain, skin irritation, vomiting and, in the most severe cases, death.
The US State Department said: “Chloroprotolyc is one of the most dangerous forms ever seen. The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is likely due to the desire of Russian forces to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve regular gains on the battlefield.” He then announced sanctions against the Russian unit RKhBZ.
In October, the UK went further. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defense Secretary John Healey accused Russia of violating the chemical weapons treaty and imposed sanctions on both the unit and Kirillov himself. “Russia’s cruel and inhumane tactics on the battlefield are appalling,” Lammy said, and the UK also said chloropicrin was among the chemical agents used.
The refutation of Russia
A study by the Kyiv Independent newspaper published in August, based on data released by Ukrainian officials, showed that the use of chemical agents on the battlefield increased in the first half of this year. It said there were 81 reported cases in December 2023, rising to 715 in May, although the numbers fell again as winter approached, falling to 166 cases, according to Ukrainian data.
Hours before Kirillov’s death, Ukraine’s SBU internal security agency published its own report online which concluded that the Russians are using chemical weapons “mainly in the most ‘hot’ areas of the front, where they try to hide the use of chemical agents under heavy artillery fire’.
Russia has denied using chemical weapons in Ukraine, with Kirillov himself responsible for many of the denials. “Russia destroyed all stockpiles of chemical weapons in September 2017,” the general said in February, although allegations of novichok use on Sergei Skripal and Alexei Navalny suggest otherwise. Kirillov also claimed that Russia found a chemical weapons laboratory near Avdiivka in Ukraine, although this claim was never verified.
The OPWC survey
Until recently, official OPCW investigations into the two sides have been limited, in part because in order for the international body to act it must be invited by Russia or Ukraine to investigate. The use of chloropicrin has not been proven by the OPCW, but last month, after a visit to Ukraine, the watchdog said evidence of the use of a type of tear gas was convincing for the first time.
“Analyses by designated OPCW laboratories, conducted separately and independently of each other, confirm that the grenade and soil samples collected from the trench contain the anti-riot agent 2-chlorobenzylidenemalonitrile, known as CS,” the agency said. . Under the chemical weapons treaty to which Russia is a signatory, he added, “the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare is prohibited.”
