THE HAGUE, July 15. /TASS/. Russia poses no chemical threat to Ukraine and Kiev’s stockpiling individual protective gear may mean that it is getting prepared to use toxic agents, Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Vladimir Tarabrin said.
"There is no chemical threat to Ukraine from Russia and there can be none," he said.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that Kiev continues to increase its reserves of antidots, gas masks and other individual protective gear in quantities that considerably exceed its needs. "The question is what all of this is for," he noted. "It looks like for preparing some large-scale provocations. Or for the use of chemical weapons by themselves."
Ukraine applied to the OPCW Technical Secretariat shortly after the beginning of Russia’s special military operation asking member countries to help it under Article 10 of the Chemical Weapons Convention. As part of this process, a special fund was set up, which has received 3.9 million euro by now, with 2.4 million of the sum being already used. Apart from that, the OPCW and Ukraine signed a special agreement, under which Kiev is being supplied with air toxin detectors and provided with training courses for its specialists.
Russia has never requested such help, Tarabrin said. "Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops have enough means and tools not only to timely expose chemical threats but also to swiftly respond to them," the diplomat said. "We don’t need the OPCW for that. We are closely monitoring the situation along the combat engagement line to prevent Ukraine’s violations of its commitments under the Convention. We will continue informing the OPCW Technical Secretariat and the organization’s member states about any violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention by Ukrainian nationalists.".