Putin’s use of banned weapons will do him no good, thanks to British help

The UK is leading the way against Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, by providing effective protection against this campaign of war crimes by Putin.

Russia is using chemical weapons on an industrial scale in Ukraine and has been for 18 months, because it is the only way it can make any progress. As Putin steps up his spring offensive, he also appears to be stepping up his chemical weapons usage.  Medics in the Pokrovsk area told me that they have been dealing with multiple chemical casualties over the last seven days.

This is despite the fact that chemical weapons were banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1996 – to which Russia is signatory. Putin fights dirty and his enemies need to be able to operate in a contaminated environment.

Putin, of course, saw President Assad of Syria hold on to power through 13 years of civil war because he used chemical weapons to subjugate those who opposed him. Chemical weapons are cheap and highly effective, especially against civilians or unprotected soldiers. I would go as far as to say that if you have no morals or scruples you would use chemical weapons all the time as they are morbidly brilliant.

Putin, Kim Jong Un and the Mullahs in Tehran appear to fit this mould exactly.  However, the announcement this week that 65,000 British gas masks are on the way to Ukraine will severely diminish the effectiveness of Russian chemical attacks.  Sometimes simple things like gas masks can make a strategic difference. The art of war is being able to identify what works and what does not and act accordingly – it is not the same as the “Art of the Deal” as some seem to think.

The world turned a blind eye when the Obama “red line” on the use of chemical weapons in Syria evaporated. It continues to do the same regarding Russian chemical weapon usage in Ukraine.

President Trump appears to be getting ready to attack Iran with missiles and China with tariffs. This is probably not going to make the world safer or America richer. Meanwhile  Russia is left free of any threat from the US president at the moment, which seems deeply illogical. It is Russia that is the threat: it is probably enabling proliferation of chemical and nuclear weapons across other rogue states. We must be on our guard in case of escalation to more deadly chemical weapons, like the lethal nerve agent Novichok – already used against targets in Britain, lest we forget.  

At least something sensible is happening, even if it is on a smaller scale. British gas masks will make a significant difference to Ukrainian soldiers defending their land from the Russian hordes. But what we need is for the world’s great powers to take hard action against those like Putin who would defy treaties like the Chemical Weapons Convention, and use truly abhorrent forms of warfare.

Hamish de Bretton Gordon is a former British Army officer and chemical warfare expert