The US is preparing to stage false flag chemical attacks in Ukraine to pin the blame on Moscow for the use of banned toxic agents, the chief of Russia’s Nuclear Biological and Chemical Defense troops, Igor Kirillov, has said.
The Americans believe that the international community wouldn’t be able to organize an effective investigation of such “provocations” due to the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, which would allow Washington to escape responsibility, Kirillov said during a briefing on Tuesday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has obtained information that a train with a cargo of chemical substances in one of its cars had apparently arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk in Donbass on February 10, the commander said.
The 16 metal boxes with special markings that suggest they contained BZ (3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate) incapacitating agent as well as CS (chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile) and CR (dibenzoxazepine) harassing 'riot-control' agents, were accompanied by the “citizens of foreign nations,” he also alleged.
According to Kirillov, the chemicals were unloaded at a local metallurgical plant under the supervision of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and put on US-supplied armored vehicles that later moved out towards a contact as part of a convoy.
Russia also established that eleven cars with specially marked shrapnel ammunition were unloaded in Kramatorsk on February 19, the commander said. The shells of this type had been previously upgraded in the US to be able to deliver harassing chemical substances, he added.
NATO has also planned a large delivery of means of chemical protection to Ukraine, including hundreds of antidotes for various toxic substances, Kirillov is also alleging.
“The facts of simultaneous delivery of toxic chemicals and means of protection against them indicate an attempt to carry out large-scale provocations using the BZ military-grade psychoactive chemical agent during the conflict,” he said.
Despite announcing the depletion of all of its stocks of BZ back in 1990, the US has preserved samples of the toxic agent, which causes acute psychosis, disorientation, hallucinations and memory impairment. Washington maintains the capability to produce the substance in significant quantities, the commander claimed.
If a provocation using chemical weapons is carried out in Donbass, “the true culprits will be identified and held accountable," Kirillov warned.
Russian forces in the area have all the means to promptly detect the use of toxic agents and to contain such incidents, he assured Tuesday's briefing, adding that they can identify not just the substance being deployed but also the country where it was produced.
Chemical warfare is forbidden under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) of 1997, to which the US, Ukraine and Russia are all signatories. The document bans their militaries from even using riot-control agents or tear gas, despite them being allowed in law enforcement.