Russia urges OSCE to assess Ukraine’s alleged use of chemical weapons in Bakhmut and Soledar

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8 Feb. () –

The Russian authorities have appealed to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to evaluate the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the vicinity of Bakhmut and Soledar, in the east from the country.

As denounced by the Russian envoy in Vienna for military security and arms control matters, Konstantin Gavrilov, “Russian soldiers receive severe burns and poisoning”, which would corroborate the use of chemical weapons by Ukraine, according to TASS.

Likewise, Gavrilov has stressed that the Russian Ministry of Defense has indications that “US military biological laboratories are being transferred from the territory of Ukraine to Poland and the Baltic States.”

For the Russian envoy in Vienna, these alleged maneuvers by Washington confirm Moscow’s “concerns” about “the provocative activities of the United States and its allies near the Russian borders.”

This same week the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (RPD) have accused the Ukrainian Army of using chemical weapons in the vicinity of Bakhmut, Vulgodar and Soledar, the scene of the main clashes in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks.

According to the governor of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, the pro-Russian authorities that control the region – annexed by Russia at the end of September – have information “of the use of chemical compounds” by Ukraine that cause “discomfort” in the military from Donetsk.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, more than eleven months ago, Russia has denounced on successive occasions that some of the Western powers –mainly the United Kingdom and the United States– were helping Kiev in the development of biological weapons.

However, the United Nations has stepped forward on several occasions to ensure that it is not aware that any biological weapons program is being developed.