Chlorine and mustard gas have no monuments. But their “trace” remained forever in burned lungs, disfigured faces and silent horror that haunts generations. On April 29, the Day of Remembrance of All Victims of Chemical Weapons, the whole world is trying to recognize and understand that humanity is forced to breathe poison created by its own hands. This memorable date should remind humanity not only about distant fronts and not only about the archives of the war, but also about modernity, which still breathes its fumes on the battlefield, in the basements of the attacked cities, in protracted negotiations, which often fall behind by several deaths.
A memory that burns in the lungs
Chemical weapons leave behind not only bodies, but a memory that makes it hard to breathe even decades later. In the international calendar, April 29 is not an accidental date, it was determined by the decision of the 10th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in document C-10/5 of November 11, 2005 as the official Day of Remembrance for all victims of its use. Formally, this date became an act of recognition of the tragedy. In fact, it serves as a signal that the world has not yet settled accounts with this poisonous page of history.
On April 29, 1997, the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons entered into force, which marked the beginning of the system of international control over their elimination. 193 states have joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, while only Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan remain outside its framework. For its work on the destruction of chemical arsenals, the OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. Since the entry into force of the Convention in 1997, the OPCW has conducted more than 3,800 inspections of facilities in more than 80 countries, destroying more than 98% of declared chemical weapons stockpiles. Although attempts to limit the use of poisonous substances began as early as the Geneva Protocol of 1925, only the Convention provided a real mechanism for control, inspections and the introduction of sanctions for violations.
Chemical weapons, although considered one of the most controlled forms of weapons, still continue to appear in armed conflicts, despite international agreements. The world must understand that it was not created for combat, but for punishment, intimidation, destruction without a chance. Its victims are not only military personnel, but also civilians, children, doctors, and entire communities.
Chemical weapons are mistakenly perceived as simply “gas”. But in fact, it is an arsenal of poisonous substances, created in order to affect not the equipment, but the human body and psyche. It is not visible, it does not make a noise like a rocket, but it becomes a silent killer that dissolves in the air and leaves behind hell in the lungs, on the skin, in the brain. Among the types of chemical weapons, the following are distinguished:
- Nerve agents (sarin, zoman, VX) are some of the deadliest substances created by man. Their effect is almost instantaneous. A few drops are enough, and the muscles stop obeying, breathing stops, the person literally suffocates in his own body. Even if it is possible to survive after exposure to this substance, incurable brain damage, memory problems, tremors, and paralysis remain.
Interestingly, VX is considered to be a thousand times more toxic than cyanide. - Tear and irritant agents (CS, CN, pepper spray) are known as “police” gases, which, despite their less lethal effect, have no right to be used in war. They are used for demoralization, forced evacuation from shelters. These agents cause lacrimation, suffocation, burns of the mucous membrane, and in case of high concentration can cause chemical burns of the lungs, or even lead to death.
- Asphyxiating substances (phosgene, chlorine, diphosgene) – chemicals since the First World War. They fill the air slowly and are odorless, or have a faint “fresh” scent that is misleading. They begin to act after a few minutes, causing burning pain in the chest, coughing up blood, pulmonary edema. As a result of the injury, the lungs are “flooded” with liquid, which leads to rapid death. Those who survive have lifelong breathing problems.
- Affecting the skin and mucous membranes (mustard, lewisite) – substances that do not kill immediately, but slowly turn the skin into an open wound. They penetrate even through clothes and do not have an instant smell. That is why poisoning is often discovered when it is too late. As a result of exposure to these substances, burns, blisters, rotting of tissues, blindness, skin cancer occur. It is interesting that mustard gas can even change DNA.
- Toxic substances of the new generation (“Rookie”) – a complex of substances even more deadly than sarin was created in the USSR. It works even in microdoses, can penetrate skin, mucous membranes, clothing and cause instant loss of consciousness, convulsions, coma and death. The worst thing is that even after surviving, a person often remains disabled.
- Psychotropic agents – a lesser-known but real type of chemical weapon that disrupts the psyche: causes hallucinations, disorientation, aggression or complete apathy. These substances can cause mental disorders, depression, loss of decision-making ability. In military conditions, they are used to turn a combat-ready soldier into an uncontrollable victim.
It should be understood that chemical weapons are terrible not only because of their damage, but also due to the fact that they act instantly, remaining invisible, work long after the attack, infecting the area, intimidating and demoralizing and causing irreparable damage to human life and health.
The history of the emergence of chemical weapons and their poisonous trail
The history of chemical weapons became a vivid example of how science and ingenuity, meant to serve life, were turned into instruments of martyrdom. This is a weapon that not only kills, but also maims, poisons space, erases faces, makes one suffer for a long time and has no chance of defense. She does not distinguish between a soldier and a child. And, worst of all, its use was never accidental. History shows that the use of chemical weapons has always been a conscious decision by the military-political leadership, which should have been responsible, but chose poison over law and morality.
Long before the words “mustard” or “sarin” appeared, the idea of killing with poisonous substances was already roaming the battlefields. In ancient Greece, during sieges of cities, enemies burned toxic resins and sulfur, blowing poisonous smoke into the ventilation holes. In the 5th century BC, the Spartans already knew how to mix combustible substances so that the smoke did not just interfere, but destroyed all living things in the radius of action. These were only primitive prototypes. Real technological chemical weapons appeared in the 20th century, in an era when science could already produce poison not on a case-by-case basis, but on an industrial scale.
Let us recall the city of Ypres in Belgium in 1915. German troops opened the valves of chlorine cylinders. The wind quickly sent a poisonous cloud towards the French positions. Soldiers suffocated, coughed up blood, went blind. They had no chance. It was the first mass act of chemical warfare, after which the world officially entered a new era. Then there were phosgene, diphosgene, and later mustard gas appeared. It is worth noting that mustard gas is the most dangerous substance, because it did not kill instantly. It corrodes the skin, lungs, eyes, penetrates through clothes. People died slowly, painfully, sometimes for weeks. As a result, only during the First World War more than a million people became victims of chemical weapons, then chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas were used – in total about 124 thousand. tons of chemical agents. And although the Geneva Protocol of 1925 was concluded after the war, which prohibited its use, no country has given up its reserves.
The interwar world did not forget about chemical weapons, it just temporarily hid them. In 1935, Italy used mustard gas against the Ethiopian population. In 1937-1945, Japan used chemical poisons in China. And during the Second World War, all the great powers had powerful arsenals, but refrained from using them, fearing mutual destruction. However, Nazi Germany developed new types of chemical weapons – sarin, zoman, tabun. Although these substances were not used during the war, they later became key elements of chemical arsenals during the Cold War and subsequent conflicts.
After 1945, the world was divided into two camps, but chemical weapons remained in the arsenals of both. It was actively developed, improved, stored in tons. In Vietnam, the USA used Agent Orange (a substance that destroyed forests and left terrible mutations in people’s DNA – ed.). In the 1980s, Iraq used mustard gas and nerve gas against the Kurds in Halabja. At least 5 thousand civilians died, tens of thousands were poisoned for life.
In 2012, the London research group Forensic Architecture (FA), known for combining scientific methods with civilian investigations, set out to examine one of the most controversial military operations in recent decades. The task was to find out whether Israeli forces actually used white phosphorus munitions during the armed conflict in the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009. The FA team involved modern tools: three-dimensional modeling, analysis of open video materials and satellite images. The results were shocking.
Researchers have documented numerous cases of the use of phosphorous shells in densely populated urban areas, resulting in mass displacement of civilians and causing panic and numerous casualties. The report emphasizes that these attacks were not only tactical, but also repressive in nature. At first, Israel completely denied the use of white phosphorous projectiles. However, evidence gathered by the FA, including live footage, put an end to the debate. In the end, the Israeli authorities admitted the fact of using such weapons, but explained it by the need to create smoke screens to cover operations.
Despite the official denial of the FA’s findings, the organization’s report was submitted to the UN structures dealing with the control of the use of conventional weapons, as well as to the Supreme Court of Israel. In 2013, under the pressure of evidence and public criticism, the Israeli military announced that it would no longer use white phosphorus in cities and towns.
In 2013, sarin was used in the Ghouta region of Syria. Despite global support, the problem of chemical weapons use has not gone away: according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and independent groups, at least 38 cases of its use have been recorded in Syria. As a result, hundreds of civilians, including children, were killed. This act became a turning point, forcing the UN to intensify its investigation. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) took control of the destruction of the Syrian stockpile.
In 2021, The New York Times edition made public a series of large-scale journalistic investigations that cast doubt on the official version of the US military regarding the accuracy and “purity” of airstrikes from drones. Based on classified internal documents of the US Department of Defense, journalists have uncovered serious systemic miscalculations that have caused numerous civilian deaths in the Middle East since 2014.
Declassified Pentagon reports recorded the military’s own estimates of at least 1,300 civilians killed or injured in strikes in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. This was in stark contrast to the official claims of “high precision” of the operations, which, according to the Pentagon, had almost no “collateral losses”. The investigation also shed light on a culture of systemic negligence in the targeting process. Often, people declared as “terrorists” were determined on the basis of superficial or dubious data. Egregious mistakes that resulted in the deaths of children, women, and men were often left with no consequences for the servicemen who made them.
This project by New York Times journalists won the Pulitzer Prize for International Journalism in 2022, cementing its reputation as one of the most influential exposés that has forced a new look at US “remote warfare” and its true cost to civilians.
But even despite international supervision, chemical weapons appear again and again. Its use is increasingly reminiscent not of armies, but of terrorist acts, political massacres or attacks in hybrid wars. In the Russian Federation, it was used against oppositionists. The cases with Navalny and the Skripals demonstrate that poison has become a tool not only of war, but also of intimidation.
Between prohibition and contempt: how the Russian Federation is waging a war against Ukraine with chemical grenades
In the conditions of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the threat of using chemical weapons has become real again. Dmytro Sergeenko, an officer of the settlement and analytical center, on the air of the national telethon described, how the occupiers systematically poison the Ukrainian battlefield with prohibited substances. According to Sergeenko, Russian troops are increasingly using gas grenades, in particular the K-51 and RGR types, equipped with the chemical substance CS (a powerful tear gas that causes burning irritation of the eyes, mucous membranes and respiratory tract – ed.). In a civilian environment, it is sometimes used to disperse demonstrations, but in the context of hostilities, such a weapon falls under the prohibition of the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Therefore, its combat use is a direct violation of international humanitarian law.
At the front, these chemical grenades work not only as a means of defeat, but also as an instrument of demoralization. The enemy purposefully throws them into forward Ukrainian positions, forcing the defenders to leave their shelters or to act in conditions of physical exhaustion, suffocation and tears. Although CS is not considered a lethal agent, at high concentrations it is capable of causing chemical burns to the skin and respiratory tract, and when combined with explosive attacks destroys the chance of an adequate response by defenders. These substances cause unacceptable suffering and are therefore prohibited for use on the battlefield. But in practice, the Russian army does not stop at any moral or legal boundaries.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine documented 465 cases of chemical attacks, including 81 in December 2023. It is not only about local incidents, but about purposeful tactics that the enemy systematized in his offensive and defensive actions.
Collecting evidence of this poisoned terror is not an easy task. Groups of radiation and chemical reconnaissance of the Armed Forces are constantly on duty at the front line, responding to signals about the possible use of chemical substances. In conditions of constant shelling, the military risk their lives to take samples for express analysis on the spot, and then transfer the materials to qualified laboratories. Together with the Security Service of Ukraine, these data are sent to international human rights and monitoring structures to record the crime, which will be used as evidence in international courts in the future.
The cynicism of the situation is reinforced by another fact. In 2017, the Russian Federation officially announced the complete destruction of its stockpiles of chemical weapons. However, since then, the country has not allowed any independent inspection of its military laboratories. And the cases of the use of military poisons, in particular “Novachka” in Great Britain, which are well known to the world, show that the Russian arsenal is far from empty, but only hidden behind the screen of official rhetoric.
Today, poisonous gases are not an incident or an exception in Ukraine. They have become a tool of war that complements missile strikes, phosphorous attacks, air strikes and proves that there are no “red lines” for the aggressor.
Since the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has become the main control mechanism. As of 2023, more than 99% of declared stocks have been destroyed. But this is not enough. First, not everything is destroyed. Second, non-state groups, authoritarian regimes and terrorists are not subject to routine inspections. Therefore, complete liquidation should become not so much a technical as a political and legal task for the whole world.
It should be understood that chemical weapons have not disappeared. It simply changed shape and scale, becoming a convenient lever in the hands of those who despise the laws of war. Each of its application challenges the global legal system, the principle of humanity, trust between states and endangers the scurrying of all humanity.
