WAR IN UKRAINE INCREASES CHEMICAL WEAPONS THREAT: WATCHDOG

Mon 28 November 2022:

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the threat from weapons of mass destruction, including chemical munitions, the head of the world’s toxic arms watchdog says.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine, its chief, Fernando Arias, said at the regulator’s annual meeting.

“The situation in Ukraine has again increased the real threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons,” Arias said at the meeting in The Hague.

“It has exacerbated existing tensions to a point where unity of the international community on common global challenges related to international security and peace cannot be presumed.”

International disarmament bodies like his Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation “now have become places for confrontation and disagreement”, Arias warned.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of the possible use of chemical and biological weapons since the start of the conflict in Ukraine last February.

Moscow claims that Kyiv tried to develop a biological weapons program together with the United States.

But neither has presented credible evidence of these accusations.

The Russian Army’s defeats on the battlefield have reignited fears of Russia’s use of weapons of mass destruction.

Russia tested its new nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile last week, just days after the Kremlin insisted that using nuclear weapons in Ukraine was not an option.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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