Chemical weapons: what are we talking about?

© JOHN THYS / AFP
A man tries on a protective suit and gas mask, rubber boots and three layers of special gloves during a simulated chemical attack at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Netherlands. Bottom), April 20, 2017.

Along with nuclear power, the use of weapons is the other taboo that threatens the Ukrainian battlefield. As early as March 9, Russia accused the United States of having financed a biological weapons program in Ukraine. Of “fake news”for the Secretary General of NATO, according to whom these accusations might, on the contrary, serve as a pretext for the use of chemical weapons by Russia itself.

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“It is clear that Russia is considering using chemical and biological weapons” also accused US President Joe Biden on Monday March 21. On Wednesday, former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin estimated on BFMTV that Vladimir Putin was «capable» to use such weapons.

Chemical weapons, biological weapons, what’s the difference? Why and since when are these taboo weapons used? What legislative framework? Le Figaro make the point.

What definition?

According to OPCW definition (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), a chemical weapon is a “chemical used to cause death or other harm by its toxic action.»

«Ammunition, devices and other materials specifically designed to weaponize toxic chemicals also fall within the definition of chemical weapons., says the OPCW. The OPCW thus encompasses in its definition not only the chemical product carried in a bomb or shell, but also all toxic chemicals, their reagents, and the ammunition or delivery devices.

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The OPCW classifies these weapons into several categories according to their effects: suffocating agents, vesicants (irritants), haemotoxic agents (which poison the blood) and neurotoxic agents such as sarin gas, soman or VX. These act on nerve cells and can lead to death quickly. Distributed in liquid or aerosol form, they can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

Some examples of chemical weapons

Here are some non-exhaustive examples of chemical weapons.

the gas sarinwhich creates “contractures that can block the muscles that control breathing”, explained to Europe 1 drug chemist André Picot.

the mustard gaswhich inflicts skin burns and can blind or asphyxiate, with a 5% fatality rate. “Its function is not to kill the soldiers – in principle – but rather to handicap them (…)”, deciphers Johnny Nehmeexpert in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons at the ICRC.

the chlorinewhich affects sight and the ability to breathe.

the VX gas. A single small drop would be enough to kill, explains chemist André Picot on Europe 1. To heal, you need an antidote containing atropine.

Chemical weapons, biological weapons: what’s the difference?

Biological weapons are “complex systems that disseminate disease-causing organisms or toxins to harm or kill people, animals, or plants”, as defined by the United Nations. Like chemical weapons, they can be used in the military field or to commit political assassinations. Their destructive and toxic potential is even greater. They can indeed be used “to infect livestock or agricultural production for the purpose of causing food shortages and economic loss, to create environmental disasters, and to introduce widespread disease, fear and distrust into the population”continues the UN.

“Virtually any pathogenic organism, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi (…), can be used in biological weapons”, is it further specified.

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While “Chemical weapons are inert toxic substances, biological weapons are pathogenic agents, most of them living, biological: bacteria or viruses. If they are disseminated in nature, they can, as we have seen with Covid-19, contaminate the whole earth.explain to Figaro Olivier Lepick, associate researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) and specialist in chemical and biological weapons.

This is what makes Olivier Lepick say that chemical weapons, unlike biological weapons and nuclear weapons, “are not weapons of mass destruction”. However, the chemical weapon has a degree of destruction which would be “between conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction”. And this, in particular, by virtue of a particular characteristic: “Indiscriminate, it makes no difference between civilians and soldiers“, unlike, in theory, a shell, supposed to aim at a target.

How old was the use of chemical weapons?

Although similar weapons have been used since Antiquity, it was not until the First World War that chemical weapons were used on a large scale.

The Battle of Ypres, Belgium, was the scene of the first chemical attack : in mid-April 1915, the Germans used 150 tons of chlorine, resulting in the death by suffocation of thousands of soldiers. However, the operation did not allow the military advantage to shift to the German camp. It is also a fiasco in terms of image. French and British cry out for the violation of international conventions, which will not prevent them from using this gas in their turn during subsequent attacks.

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During the “Great War”, other chemical weapons such as chlorine, phosgene (suffocating agent) or mustard gas will be used.

If they continue to proliferate, chemical weapons are on the other hand “little used in the second half of the 20th century”, says Olivier Lepick. During World War II, poison gas was used in concentration camps. Japan would also use chemical weapons during the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and Fascist Italy during the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935-36. On the other hand, these weapons will not be used on the European battlefields.

They reappeared during the war between Iran and Iraq (1980 – 1988), then during the Syrian civil war which began in 2011 – which led Syria to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2013, before being suspended for not respecting her commitment.

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We also find their use during a sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995, perpetrated by a sect.

Why are chemical weapons used?

The main “benefit” of chemical weapons is their ability to terrorize civilian populations. “Even if conventional weapons can cause abominable damage to civilian populations, as we can see in Mariupol, Ukraine, the taboo that concerns them and the international conventions that condemn them play into this psychological dimension”analyzes Olivier Lepick.

In reality, these weapons have low military effectiveness. “Easily detectable”used in an exclusively military context, they would come up once morest “modern armed forces well protected and equipped to be able to fight in a contaminated universe”, analyzes Olivier Lepick. Similarly, in the context of use in mixed and particularly urban combat, as currently in Ukraine, “there is little military and tactical interest”continues the expert.

Do chemical weapons have a deterrent capacity comparable to nuclear?

During the Cold War, there was a theory that chemical weapons would be “the poor man’s nuclear weapon”. Less costly to produce than an atomic bomb, they would allow Third World States unable to acquire atomic weapons to easily acquire the power of deterrence to deal with States possessing nuclear weapons.

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“A false theorysweeps Olivier Lepick. We saw it with Iraq: only nuclear weapons provide a state with a deterrent capability. If Third World countries tried and succeeded in the 1970s to obtain chemical weapons, this did not offer them a deterrent similar to that provided by the sanctuarization of possession of nuclear weapons.

What legislative frameworks?

The use of biological weapons was prohibited by the Geneva Protocol (1925) and then the Convention on the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons (1972), signed by more than 180 countries , including Ukraine, the United States and Russia.

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The use of chemical weapons was also prohibited by the Geneva Protocol, then the Chemical Weapons Conventionsigned in 1993 and entered into force in 1997. The implementing body of this Convention, the OPCW, is created in stride. Made up of 193 member states, including Russia and Ukraine, it oversees the global effort to eliminate these weapons.

Which countries are suspected of manufacturing or stockpiling chemical weapons?

To date, North Korea and Egypt have still not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. In addition, two have signed it without ratifying it: Israel and Burma.

The OPCW states on its website that 99% of chemical weapons stockpiles declared by possessor states have been verifiably destroyed. Accused by the West of having used chemical weapons on civilian populations, Syria joined the OPCW in 2013, before to be suspended in April 2021 for non-compliance with its commitments.

Since the attempted assassination of former Russian spy in the service of the United Kingdom Sergei Skripal in 2018 and that of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny with Novichok (nerve agent), Russia has also been the subject of suspicion In Occident.