At the end of November, sources from the American edition of Politico spoke about US officials who suspected Moscow of preparing a chemical attack in Ukraine. In turn, Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands and part-time Russia's Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin said that the OPCW ignored data on provocations by the Ukrainian army using chemical weapons. The topic of the possible use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is being raised more and more often against the backdrop of aggravated contradictions in the world. This article tells what WMD is when it was used and what it led to.
The main types of weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction also referred to as weapons of mass destruction, are designed to inflict mass loss or destruction even with limited use. This weapon has a great striking ability and a number of distinctive features, which include:
- multifactorial damaging effect;
- the presence of long-acting damaging factors and their spread beyond the target;
- prolonged psycho-traumatic effect;
- severe genetic and environmental consequences;
- the complexity of protecting troops, infrastructure, and civilians;
- high costs of eliminating the consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons have similar properties. At the heart of each type of WMD is the ammunition of the corresponding equipment. To deliver weapons of mass destruction, various means can be used, including aerial bombs and missiles, which allow expanding the geography of possible strikes. The use of weapons of mass destruction can have a significant impact on the natural habitat and lead to grave consequences not only for the warring parties but for the whole of humanity.
For this reason, they are trying to limit the use of WMD. In 1899, at the initiative of Russia, the first peace conference was convened in The Hague. It adopted several documents, including a declaration "On the prohibition of the use of projectiles that have the sole purpose of spreading asphyxiating or harmful gases", which was signed by representatives of 26 countries. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the First World War, the warring parties possessed these weapons.
In the summer of 1925, representatives of 37 states signed the Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Similar Gases and Bacteriological Means (the Geneva Protocol). This document legally prohibited the use of chemical, biological and toxic weapons, but did not restrict their development, production, and stockpiling.
What is a chemical weapon ?
On April 22, 1915, a yellow-green cloud moved to the junction of the French and British positions - German troops released about 168 tons of chlorine. About 15,000 people were affected by the gas, and at least 5,000 of them died. The episode, which went down in history as the second battle of Ypres, is considered the first case of the use of chemical weapons (CW), which led to mass deaths.
This type of WMD includes weapons whose action is based on the toxic properties of poisonous substances (OS). The means of delivery and use of these substances can be bombs, rockets, artillery shells, grenades, and mines. According to the nature of the impact on the human body, agents are divided into nerve paralytic, blistering, asphyxiating, general poisonous, irritating and psychochemical.
In addition to the First World War, chemical weapons were used in other conflicts. In particular, it was used by Japan during the war with China, Italian troops during the war with Ethiopia, and Iraq used mustard gas during the Iran-Iraq war. Also, poisonous substances became a weapon of terrorist attacks: in March 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect (banned in Russia) left 11 packets of sarin, which is a nerve agent, in Tokyo subway train cars. This led to the death of 13 people, and another 50 people were seriously injured. In total, about 5.5 thousand victims applied for medical help.
The use of chemical weapons in military conflicts has become evidence of the need for new international agreements that could prevent the use of chemical weapons in the future. In 1968, discussions began on the question of the prohibition of chemical and biological weapons, which was carried out by the Committee on Disarmament. It was later transformed into the Conference on Disarmament, which in 1992 provided the UN General Assembly (GA) with an annual report containing the text of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. On November 30, 1992, the GA adopted the Convention, and on January 13, 1993, the UN Secretary-General opened it for signature.
The convention, which supplements the Geneva Protocol, prohibits its participants from producing and using chemical weapons and also obliges them to destroy all stockpiles of weapons. 193 states have become parties to the Convention, and the OPCW monitors compliance with the provisions of the Convention. In 2021, the head of the organization, Fernando Arias, reported that the OPCW could confirm the destruction of 98.9 percent of the world's chemical weapons stockpiles. The only member of the OPCW that has not completed the destruction of chemical weapons is the United States. In May 2022, the Pentagon announced about the destruction of the last M55 rocket with the VX nerve agent. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control Kingston Rife noted that the US has reached a key milestone on the path to complete chemical disarmament. Russia completely destroyed chemical weapons in 2017.
What is a bacteriological weapon ?
Viruses, bacterial toxins, pathogenic microorganisms, or their spores, intended for mass destruction of enemy personnel and population, are referred to as bacteriological weapons (BW). Also, bacteriological weapons include means of delivery of pathogenic microorganisms and animal vectors.
When using BO, there is almost always an incubation period during which the disease does not manifest itself. This exacerbates the ability of certain diseases to be transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person, leading to epidemics. Microbes and toxins are odorless, colorless, or tasteless, and bacteria and viruses can only be detected after laboratory testing, which takes time. All this complicates the timely adoption of measures to prevent epidemic diseases.
BO is one of the oldest types of WMD. It is believed that it was used in ancient Rome, throwing the corpses of those who died from the plague over the walls of besieged cities. This could cause an epidemic among the defenders. One of the first cases of the use of bacteriological weapons in the war is considered to be the transfer of smallpox-infected blankets by the British military to the Indians who besieged Fort Pitt in 1763.
During the Second World War, Detachment 731 of the Japanese armed forces worked on the creation of bacteriological weapons. The goal of scientists was to create an epidemic chain of the spread of the plague. By the end of the war, they had developed special ammunition with plague bacteria. They exploded at a certain height, providing the largest radius of destruction.
The use of bacteriological weapons, like chemical weapons, was first attempted to be prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. The shortcomings of the document required a new agreement, which was the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC). Opened for signature in 1972, the Convention was the first international treaty to prohibit the production of a whole class of weapons. The first article of the BTWC stipulates that each state party to the Convention undertakes never to develop, produce, stockpile, acquire or retain biological agents or toxins not intended for peaceful purposes. The BTWC also affects weapons, equipment, and delivery vehicles intended for the use of BW in conflicts.
When were nuclear weapons used?
Nuclear weapons are the youngest type of WMD. The first nuclear explosive device, called the Gadget, was tested by the United States on July 16, 1945, at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The action of nuclear weapons is based on the destructive energy that is obtained from nuclear fission reactions or a combination of fission and fusion reactions. Nuclear weapons allow a large amount of energy to be released from a relatively small amount of matter. For example, the American B61 bomb is 3.5 meters long and 33 centimeters in diameter. An explosion with a yield of 20 kilotons is capable of creating a zone of complete destruction of about one kilometer, and the modern version of the B61 can carry a charge of up to 50 kilotons.
In the entire history of nuclear weapons in hostilities, this type of WMD was used twice - at the final stage of World War II, the United States dropped the atomic bomb "Kid" on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and "Fat Man" on the city of Nagasaki. In the late 1940s, Japan estimated that two explosions claimed the lives of 200,000 people. According to Reiko Nada, who lived in Nagasaki and was nine years old in 1945, she was able to survive because a mountain separated her home and the epicenter of the explosion.
After the American bombing of Japan, nuclear weapons were not used, but in 1962 the confrontation between the USSR and the USA, which went down in history as the Cuban Missile Crisis, created a direct threat of the use of nuclear weapons. This episode demonstrated the need for nuclear disarmament. In 1963, the USSR, the United States, and Great Britain signed the Treaty Banning Nuclear Tests in the Atmosphere, Outer Space, and Under Water. Later, they wanted to expand it to an unconditional framework with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which was signed by 41 of the 44 states necessary for the treaty to enter into force.
There is also the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which is designed to stop the expansion of the circle of nuclear powers, and in 2021 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came into force. The agreement, designed to ban the development, testing, storage, acquisition, transport, and use of nuclear weapons, entered into force in 2021. However, not a single nuclear power took part in the work of the UN Conference, at which the provisions of the treaty were agreed upon and a legally binding document on the prohibition of nuclear weapons was put to a vote.
Post a Comment