THE HAGUE, October 14. /TASS/. Russia informed the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) about its concerns over potential chemical provocations in Ukraine, Russia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the organization Vladimir Tarabrin said commenting on the outcome of last week’s session of the OPCW Executive Council.
The Russian diplomat recalled that ahead of the session Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov had warned about Ukraine’s plans to stage provocations to accuse Russia of using toxic agents during its special military operation. For these ends, Kiev plans to take advantage of the absence of Russian representatives on the OPCE Executive Council and in case it succeeds, it will continue efforts to oust Russian representatives from the organization’s Technical Secretariat, the general said.
"Here, we also informed the OPCW leadership about these concerns," he said. "Because there are indications that some chemical provocations are being plotted. And after they are staged, there will be attempts to use the mechanisms of the OPCW and the Chemical Weapons Convention. But I hope our preemptive measures have yielded certain results."
In particular, this topic was raised by Russian representatives during the session and a special briefing for the OPCW members.
As for Ukraine, it provided no new evidence to back its allegations that Russia is using toxic agents, Tarabrin noted. "They kept on repeating hackneyed allegations and cited crazy figures, but this was absolutely ungrounded," he stressed. "Not a single document was provided to prove this. So, I don’t think anyone is taking this seriously.".