The US Department of State on Wednesday accused Russia of having used a chemical weapon against Ukrainian forces, contravening the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), accusations Moscow denied.
In addition to the chemical agent chloropicrin, Russia used “riot control agents (tear gas) as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC,” the department said in a factsheet.
“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,” the state department said.
Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions aimed at crippling Russia’s military and industrial capabilities, including targeting nearly 300 entities in Russia, China and other countries accused of supporting the Russian invasion.
The sanctions are meant to punish companies that help Moscow acquire weapons for its war in Ukraine. They also target Russian government entities and companies involved in the country’s chemical and biological weapons programs.
Chloropicrin is used as a warfare agent and a pesticide, the US National Institutes of Health said, adding that if inhaled, it poses a health risk.
“Today’s actions will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by going after its military industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it,” US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement.
In Moscow yesterday, the Kremlin denied the US accusations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia remained bound by its obligations under the treaty that bans chemical weapons.
“As always, such announcements are absolutely unfounded and are not supported by anything,” Peskov said. “Russia has been and remains committed to its obligations under international law in this area.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,
Singapore yesterday swore in Lawrence Wong (黃循財) as the city-state’s new prime minister in a ceremony broadcast live on television after Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) stepped down following two decades in office. Wong, formerly deputy prime minister, was inaugurated at the Istana government office shortly after 8pm to become the second person outside the Lee family to lead the nation. “I ... do solemnly swear that I will at all times faithfully discharge my duties as prime minister according to law, and to the best of my knowledge and ability, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will. So help me God,” the
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for