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US creating new, upgrading existing non-lethal chemical munitions — Russia’s top brass

For a long period, the United States possessed some of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons kept both on US soil and outside its territory, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. The Pentagon is developing new and upgrading existing non-lethal chemical munitions, including tank shells, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov told a press briefing on Tuesday.

"According to available information, the Pentagon keeps developing new and modernizing existing non-lethal chemical munitions and other systems of using chemical weapons, such as 120mm mines, 155mm artillery and 120mm tank shells. No less than $10 million is allocated annually for their purchase to use in combat areas," the Russian general said.

For a long period, the United States possessed some of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons kept both on US soil and outside its territory, Kirillov said.

"The use of chemical agents in armed conflicts was directly stipulated in US doctrinal documents, despite the 1925 Geneva Protocol signed by Washington," he stressed.

The US Congress ratified the document with numerous reservations only in 1975 after the international community denounced the Vietnam War and the large-scale use of toxic chemicals by the US armed forces in that conflict, the Russian general said.