Meeting this week in The Hague, member countries to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) treaty denied Russia a seat on the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the treaty's governing body. The move came in the wake of a Nov. 18 OPCW report that contained compelling evidence validating Ukraine's claims (PDF) that Russia is violating the accord by using riot control agents on the battlefield.
The OPCW Technical Secretariat's report (PDF) on the chemical attacks against Ukrainian forces is a meticulous, impartial, and thorough response to a request for assistance from Ukraine. For months, Ukraine has accused Russian forces of using chemical weapons, but substantiating these claims for the international community required presenting evidence to an independent and trusted third party like the OPCW.
The attack in question occurred on September 20, targeting Ukrainian State Border guards near the village of Illinka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine requested an OPCW Technical Assistance Visit to document evidence collected, interview witnesses, and technically assess grenade and soil samples to ascertain whether a chemical was used in the attack and, if so, what it was.
OPCW Technical Secretariat staff traveled to Kyiv and adhered to strict OPCW procedures for assessing the chain of custody of evidence of the attack. The staff gathered witness testimony and evidence, including the grenade, soil samples, digital photos and videos showing how evidence was collected. All the evidence was gathered, securely packaged, and transported according to detailed OPCW protocols.
Following OPCW procedures, chemical samples were taken to the OPCW laboratory and prepared for analysis by two certified national laboratories in other countries. Both labs, separately and independently, reached the same conclusion that the grenade dropped on Ukrainian forces contained the chemical 2-Chlorobenzylidenemalonoitrile, a riot control chemical agent. In a statement announcing the findings of the report, the OPCW underscored that “the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare is prohibited.”
Both labs, separately and independently, reached the same conclusion that the grenade dropped on Ukrainian forces contained the chemical 2-Chlorobenzylidenemalonoitrile, a riot control chemical agent.
Upon completing the report, the OPCW shared it with Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the OPCW, who requested its declassification, distribution to CWC member countries, and publication on the OPCW web site. While the OPCW report did not attribute the attack, the circumstances—an explosion targeting Ukrainian forces, a known Russian-type weapon, and Ukraine's request for OPCW intervention and public release of the report—strongly implicated Russian forces.
The day after the OPCW published the report, Russia repeated baseless claims against Ukrainian and criticisms of the OPCW. Russia did not contest the facts contained in the OPCW report, but instead attempted to deflect attention by claiming the process of collecting the evidence was suspect and it had its own evidence of attacks it has suffered. As a party to the CWC, the Russian Federation has the right to request a similar visit of the OPCW Technical Secretariat to evaluate evidence of its claims against Ukraine. Unsurprisingly, it has not done so.
At the previous OPCW Conference of State Parties meeting in November 2023, Russia failed to secure enough votes to retain its seat on the EC as a representative of the Eastern Europe Group (EEG). An overwhelming majority of the regional group members did not want to be represented by Russia given its spotty compliance with the convention and its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
When regional groups lack consensus on their representatives to the EC, all the state parties attending the meeting are required to decide for the regional group. Last November instead of returning Russia to the leadership body, countries voted by secret ballot to support Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania for the three open seats to represent the EEG on the OPCW's 41-member governing body. Russia, having been ousted from over 40 international organizations, was similarly removed from the OPCW's governing body.
This week Russia was once again denied a seat on the EC, representing the EEG. The annual Conference of States Parties meeting acted upon the OPCW report's irrefutable findings that Russian forces used a chemical grenade with riot control agent on the battlefield in violation of Article I of the treaty and was not fit for a leadership. States party to the treaty supported Czechia and North Macedonia to represent the EEG countries and not Russia. Since voting is by secret ballot, countries did not fear Russian reprisal and sent the clear signal—a treaty violator does not deserve to serve on OPCW's governing body.
By rejecting Russia's candidacy, a majority of the CWC member states affirmed their obligation to the treaty, upheld the norm against chemical weapons, and supported the integrity of the OPCW to execute its mission.
