Vladimir Putin's 'horrendous' chemical weapon use in Ukraine should be 'wake up call to NATO'
Vladimir Putin has been accused of committing ”war crimes”
Vladimir Putin’s alleged use of a “horrendous” chemical weapon in Ukraine should serve as a wake-up call for NATO to provide additional defenses to Kyiv, according to Colonel Hamish Stephen de Bretton-Gordon OBE, a chemical weapons expert. He told the Daily Express US that reports of Russia using chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces represent another “war crime” to add to Putin’s list.
This follows the US’s announcement on Wednesday that Russia has breached an international chemical weapons convention by deploying chloropicrin. The Colonel stated: “The use of it is hugely significant. It is against the rules of war.”
Chloropicrin, a “choking agent” used during World War I as a chemical weapon, causes severe discomfort lasting five or ten minutes when inhaled, according to de Bretton-Gordon.
He shared from personal experience, “having had a few lungfuls myself”, that exposure results in difficulty breathing, skin stinging, and inflamed eyes, rendering one incapacitated. “You can’t breathe, every exposed bit of your skin stings, your eyes are inflamed. It incapacitates you. You can’t do anything for the five or six minutes before you have got it all out of you. It is horrendous,” he added, reports the Express.
Reports now suggest that Putin’s forces are using this agent to lure Ukrainian soldiers out of their trenches for open attacks.
Colonel de Bretton Gordon has highlighted the recent advances made by Russia, suggesting that NATO should urgently supply Ukraine with gas masks. He remarked, “There is a simple solution. You just give the Ukrainians gas masks so it won’t have the same impact.”
He also noted, “It is one of these moral issues. It is a chemical weapon at the lower end of the spectrum.”
De Bretton Gordon expressed hope that this would spur NATO countries to support Ukraine more robustly, saying, “Hopefully it will encourage NATO countries and others to the Ukrainians to ensure they can prevail.”
Following these developments, the US has imposed sanctions on entities linked to Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs, issuing a statement earlier this week denouncing their use. The statement declared, “The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield.”
However, Russia has strongly criticized the US for imposing new sanctions. Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov, stated, “In Washington they don’t seem to understand that Russia and the Russians cannot be intimidated by their decisions.”
He continued, “They do not realize that their illegitimate tricks only alienate other states. In fact, they fertilize the soil of doubts about the constructiveness of America’s current role in the world.”
Antonov concluded with a strong rebuke, “This is an example of the continuation of numerous Russophobic actions taken by the United States in recent days.”
The International Criminal Court, located in The Hague, Netherlands, issued a war crimes arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023. However, the Russian President remains free as Russia does not acknowledge the court and refuses to extradite its citizens.
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