A year and half after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were discovered unconscious in UK’s Salisbury after having been poisoned by the neurotoxin[footnote]a poison which acts on the nervous system[/footnote] Novichok, that group of nerve agents will be added to the Chemical Weapons Convention’s list of controlled substances.
This is the first time that the list is being updated since it was agreed upon in the 1990s, reports say.
Members of the global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), had adopted a proposal earlier this year for the Soviet-era nerve agent to be added to the banned list, Reuters had reported.
The proposal had been moved jointly then by the US, the Netherlands and Canada.
Nature has reported that representatives from the 193 member states met in The Hague this week for a periodic review of the convention, announcing the revision to the list on November 27. The ban on Novichok will come into effect within 180 days.
“The decision means that OPCW can now keep tabs on these chemicals,” Alastair Hay, an environmental toxicologist at the University of Leeds, UK, who was at the meeting, was quoted as having said.
The OPCW has overarching powers when it comes to inspections and investigations of chemical crimes in any of its signatory countries.
“This is the first time in its history that the Chemical Weapons Convention’s Annex on Chemicals has been updated,” OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias was quoted as having said, by Washington Post.
“This is an important development that demonstrates the adaptability of the convention to changing threats while enhancing the OPCW’s ability to remain vigilant, agile, and fit for purpose,” he added.
The role of Russia
Novichok, as had been reported widely when the Salisbury incident took place last year, was developed in Russia during the Cold War. A former Russian military officer whom Moscow suspects of being a double agent, Skripal and his daughter were believed to have been victims to an assassination attempt.
Two more people who were exposed to the same chemical. One of them died.
Also read: OPCW Confirms Use of Novichok Nerve Agent in Amesbury
Britain was quick to censure Russia over the incident, ordering the removal of all Russian envoys from the country. Russia, however, had maintained its innocence, held that it was not a state sponsored killing at all and pointed fingers instead at Britain flouting the demands of the OPCW treaty.
In an analysis for The Wire last year, Kanwal Sibal had written:
“[Russian] foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has pointed out that Britain, as a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, has not followed the procedure laid down by the OPCW to deal with cases of use of chemical agents.
According to him, no samples were sent as required to the OPCW and to Russia for investigation at their end about the exact nature of the chemical agent used and its provenance. (The British [had] subsequently sent a sample to the OPCW).”
Washington Post has reported that in the months leading up to the OPCW meeting, Russia had initially objected to the proposed changes to the banned list but later relented after chemicals it suggested be added to the list were also adopted by consensus.