... under international control by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
In 1996, the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 21, 1996 No. 305 approved the Federal Target Program “Destruction of stockpiles of chemical weapons in the Russian Federation”. According to this document, CW stocks in Russia included:
Category 1 CW (39966.59 tons of toxic chemicals)—chemical munitions filled with toxic chemicals of Schedule 1 of the Convention (VX, sarin, soman, lewisite, mustard-lewisite ...
... Russia
On August 1, US President Donald Trump signed Executive
Order 13883 “Administration of Proliferation Sanctions and Amendment of Executive Order 12851.”
Media outside Russia were quick to label the move as a second round of sanctions against Russia over the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Skripal case. What is this all about, specifically, and what new sanctions could Russia face?
Trump’s executive order was preceded by a letter from congressmen Eliot Engel (D) and Michael McCaul (R) expressing deep concern over ...
... become “the largest Al-Qaeda safe haven since 9/11.” It is imperative to weed out those who continue to supply the Syrian and Russian positions with advanced armed UAVs, whose spare parts come from “third countries.” It is clear that this situation ... ... devastating massive strikes should al-Assad “stage a bloodbath in Idlib.” The allegations about the Syrian Army’s planned use of chemical weapons in the offensive against Idlib are intended exclusively to disguise the militants’ imminent acts of provocation ...
... every veto usually causes a
storm of criticism from those who are on the opposite side. This is true in the
case of the JIM mandate decision, as demonstrated when the US Ambassador Nikki
Haley allowed her emotions to run high enough to
state
that “Russia
accepts the use of chemical weapons in Syria.” This is obviously more than an
exaggeration as Russia is extremely consistent with its chemical disarmament
background and a participant of all relevant conventions and international agreements.
Russia began its chemical ...
... major accidents. As the scale and incidence of major military exercises increases, more needs to be done to provide assurance that these could not be used as cover for more aggressive activity.
Andrey Kortunov:
Four Simple Questions About Expulsions of Russian Diplomats
One of the casualties of the worsening of relations between our countries could be the further weakening of the major arms control agreements reached at the end of the Cold War — in relation to both nuclear and chemical weapons. The collapse of the INF Treaty, agreed by Presidents Gorbachev and Reagan in 1987, is now a growing risk. If it takes place, it would not only be profoundly damaging in its own right. It would also make it more difficult to renew the ...
... answer to the
first question
is as follows: at present, there are no reasons to believe that the substances published under the umbrella name of Novichok are suitable for warfare application. All of these agents are unconditionally covered by the CWC.
Chemical weapons in Russia
Neither the Soviet Army nor the Russian Army has ever had Novichok-type substances in its arsenals.
By the early 1980s, the U.S. was facing the problem of aging chemical stockpiles. According to army generals of the time, 90% of the arsenals were ...
....” To date, the CD remains deadlocked and the probability of reaching consensus on the Russian proposal is very low.
Dmitry Stefanovich:
Nuclear Weapons Prohibition and International Security
It appears that the current discordance between the US and Russia over chemical weapons terrorism is due to the diametrically-opposing views of these countries about who is responsible for numerous chemical weapons attacks in Syria. It should be noted that the OPCW and the CWC have neither capacity nor mandate to determine ...
On February 6, RIAC members held a round table discussion at the International Multimedia Center "Rossiya Segodnya " under the framework of «Chemical weapons in Syria: Russia's position and the new US accusations» the format allowed for a contextual review of both internal Syrian and international reactions, political postures and a set of technical conditions around the use of chemical weapons.
On February 6, RIAC ...
... experts put the blame on the Syrian army. However, the
official report
, which was released in September 2013 after the UN investigation was complete, did not contain any confirmations that Syrian regime was responsible for the attack.
Back in 2013 Russia and the U.S. came up with the delicate plan which made Syria to join OPCW and get rid of its chemical weapons stockpiles. By 2016 this mission was accomplished, although accusations of Syrian government using chemical weapons are still here.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Senior advisor Steve Bannon stands
between U.S. Deputy National Security
Advisor ...
... times, starting at the G-20 summit in Mexico last year. Then there’s the story that Secretary Kerry just threw out this remark that if President Assad were to agree give up chemical weapons, then the United States wouldn’t use force. Then, Russia quickly produced this chemical weapons proposal.
We aren’t looking for any credit. Indeed, the presidents of Russia and the United States discussed this threat of chemical weapons in Syria in Los Cabos in June of last year on the margins of the G-20 summit in Mexico....
