April 18, 19:14UTC+3
According to the Russian diplomat, nerve agents
like Novichok were not only produced but were even patented as a chemical
weapon in the United States
© EPA-EFE/BART MAAT
THE HAGUE, April 18. /TASS/. Russia has submitted
the proof that the Novichok agent was produced and patented in the United
States as a chemical weapon in 2015, Russia’s Permanent Representative at the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin
said on Wednesday.
The Russian envoy made this statement during his
speech at an emergency session of the OPCW Executive Council on the Salisbury
incident.
"On December 1, 2015, the United States Patent
and Trademark Office turned to the Russian agency in charge of patents with a
request to check the patentability of the invention made by US researcher T.
Rubin," the envoy said, demonstrating the document.
READ ALSO
"This document confirms that nerve agents like
Novichok were not only produced but were even patented as a chemical weapon in
the United States. And this is not an old story, this happened just several
years ago: the patent is dated December 1, 2015," the envoy said.
"This document talks about the invention of a
special bullet, the distinctive feature of which is that it has a separate
cavity for equipping it with different kinds of toxic agents. When using the
mentioned invention, the lethal effect is achieved due to the effect of this
toxic agent on the human body. In other words, this ammunition falls under the
jurisdiction of the CWC," he went on to say.
"The principle of operation of the bullet
consists in equipping it with binary components which interact with each other
upon impact. And this is what we read on the page 11 of this official American
document, "At least one of the active substances may be selected from
nerve agents including... tabun (GA), sarin (GB), soman (GD), cyclosarin (GF),
and VG, …VM, VR, VX, and [attention!] Novichok agents," Shulgin cited the
US document.
"Moreover, searching by the key word
"Novichok" on the digital source google.patents.com you can find over
140 patents issued by the United States, related to the use and protection from
exposure to the "Novichok" toxic agent," he stressed.
Shulgin once again emphasized that the
Novichok-type nerve agents had never been produced in the Soviet Union and
Russia.
Salisbury poisoning
On March 4, former Russian military intelligence Colonel
Sergei Skripal, 66, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great
Britain and was later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his
daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings
shopping center in Salisbury, the UK. Police said they had been exposed to a
nerve agent.
London immediately accused Russia of being
involved, but failed to produce any evidence. British Prime Minister Theresa
May rushed to blame Russia for "unlawful use of force" against her
country. She identified the alleged substance used in the attack as the
so-called Novichok nerve agent, allegedly developed in the former Soviet Union.
Russia has flatly rejected these allegations pointing out that neither the
Soviet Union nor Russia had any programs to develop that substance.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.