Russia Rejects Chemical Weapons Claims from Ukraine

The Russian Federation has denied allegations that its forces used chemical substances against Ukrainian troops, calling the claims politically motivated. This denial followed statements from Ukraine’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Ivan Kholostenko, who reported 14,009 incidents of chemical exposure from February 2023 to September 2026, with 6,021 Ukrainian servicemen seeking medical attention.

The Russian Embassy in Abuja dismissed these allegations as a “chemistry of double standards,” questioning the consistency of Ukraine’s figures and citing a report from Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Andriy Kostin, which mentioned 3,632 cases on October 8, 2026. Russia asserted that riot control agents were not issued to its armed forces and emphasized its compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, claiming to have destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile in 2017.

The embassy accused Ukraine of using toxic chemicals and criticized the limited attention given to these allegations by Ukraine’s Western allies.