Moscow’s agents have seized an analog of the incapacitating chemical BZ in Russia’s Zaporozhye region
Source: The FSB
Russian operatives have prevented Kiev from staging a terrorist attack using chemical weapons in the southern part of the country not far from the frontline, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the agency said it had prevented “an attempt by the Ukrainian special services to commit a terrorist act in Zaporozhye Region using an analog of the BZ chemical warfare agent, according to the NATO classification.”
BZ, also known as 3-Quinuclidinyl Benzilate, is an odorless bitter-tasting powder that can cause hallucinations, delirium, blindness, and inability to perform basic tasks. The Chemical Weapons Convention, which has been signed by virtually all countries in the world, including Ukraine, prohibits the use of BZ on the battlefield.
The FSB noted that the confiscated chemical agents are used for producing weapons of mass destruction and were developed in the US, adding that it had detained three Ukrainian citizens in the raid.
The agency released a video showing a group of its operatives bursting into a single-story building and arresting one of the suspects. It also showed several pictures of small vials filled with chemical agents.
The head of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces, Igor Kirillov, said last week that Kiev’s forces had used toxic agents against Russian troops on numerous occasions.
At the time, he said that an agent similar to BZ had been found in a stash in Melitopol in Russia’s Zaporozhye region. He added that Ukrainian troops were also using drones to drop US-made gas grenades containing CS compound, which could trigger respiratory paralysis when applied in high doses.
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He noted at the time that the delivery of such munitions by the US to Ukraine was a direct violation of the rules of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
However, according to Kirillov, the OPCW did not react in any way to the evidence which he said proved that Ukraine was violating the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Zaporozhye Region, along with Kherson Region and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, were integrated into Russia following referendums held there in September 2022.