Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who leads Russia’s chemical and biological defense forces, said engineering troops had discovered a laboratory that was apparently used to produce hydrogen cyanide – an extremely dangerous and highly toxic agent used as a chemical weapon during World War I.
The facility is located near Avdeevka, a fortified Donbas town liberated by Russia in February, the general said. The improvised laboratory itself was found inside a partially destroyed building in an industrial area, which also had a chemical processing plant. The facility had a rotary evaporator and several chemical reactors. Protective clothes, including US-made gas masks and Polish hazmat suits, were found at the site.
According to Kirillov, samples taken from the facility and analyzed in Russian military laboratories contained traces of sulfuric acid and sodium cyanide, which can be used to produce hydrogen cyanide. Traces of cyanide anions – poisonous chemical compounds of the cyano group – were on multiple equipment, the general added.
The evidence “clearly shows that the laboratory was used to manufacture poisonous substances,” Kirillov stated. According to the Russian Defense Ministry’s estimates, the facility was capable of producing at least 3kg of chemical agents per day if operated by just two or three people. Hydrogen cyanide can kill a person if they inhale just 70 to 80 milligrams of the agent.
MP/PR