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Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Russia's Systematic Violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

20 November 2025 19:09

The global framework for non-proliferation, which is the basis of international security and stability, is under threat due to the Russian Federation's systematic use of hazardous chemicals and riot control agents as a method of warfare.

These actions by Russia constitute a blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and pose a direct threat to international peace and security. Between February 2023 and November 2025, Ukraine has documented 11,299 instances of Russia's use of munitions containing hazardous chemical substances.

Ukraine's competent authorities systematically collect and document evidence of such violations, and the findings of the corresponding investigations are submitted in accordance with established procedures to the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and to the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention. As a result, three OPCW reports have confirmed that the evidence provided by Ukraine pertains to riot control agents, which, according to numerous statements by the Ukrainian party, Russia regularly employs as a method of warfare against Ukraine's Security and Defense Forces.

The international community has already responded to these violations and imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation for the use of prohibited chemical substances on the battlefield. We express our gratitude to the United States of America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the European Union for their principled and timely responses, as well as consistent sanctions measures that increase pressure on the aggressor state and contribute to holding it accountable for violations of international law.

Ukraine welcomes these measures and is working to align, within its national jurisdiction, the relevant sanctions against entities and officials involved in Russia's development and use of chemical weapons. We count on international partners to continue intensifying sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation to prevent it from continuing the criminal practice of using prohibited chemicals as weapons.

We emphasize that, in light of the Russian Federation's gross and systematic violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, it has no right to claim membership in the OPCW Executive Council. We call on the international community to prevent Russia from being elected in the upcoming vote on 25 November. It is clear that the country that systematically employs chemical weapons in the territory of sovereign states cannot influence the work of the international organization tasked with ensuring the impartial implementation of the norms of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Ukraine, for its part, reaffirms its firm position that the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, and under any circumstances constitutes a grave violation of international law, and that those responsible for such acts must be held accountable.