SThey are outlawed and banned under international law since 1997, and yet chemical warfare agents have been used several times in recent times: in the civil war in Syria and most recently against the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter and against the opposition politician Alexei Navalnyj. And in the course of the war in Ukraine, there are increasing concerns that Vladimir Putin could order the use of chemical weapons in view of the lack of military success. Should he actually open this Pandora’s box, it would primarily affect Ukrainian civilians who are unable to protect themselves. Because modern nerve agents such as sarin, VX or Novichok, which Russia should have in sufficient quantities, act quickly and deadly if they are inhaled or penetrate the body through the skin.
Despite international conventions, the use of chemical warfare agents has never really been put a stop to. Although the Hague Land Warfare Convention of 1899 already prohibited an attack with “poisoned weapons”, 90,000 to 100,000 soldiers died in World War I as a result of the use of chemical warfare agents, and half a million people were injured. More than 100,000 tons of toxic chemicals were released or shot with grenades: Initially, it was the gaseous lung toxins chlorine (April 22, 1915 in Ypres) and phosgene (from 1916), which quickly led to death when inhaled. Mustard gas was used for the first time near Ypres in the summer of 1917. The oily liquid entered the bodies of affected soldiers through the skin and poisoned them.