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According to an investigation of PatternsDesign research and journalistic analysis of the Ukrainian editorial staff of Radio Free Europe Radio LibertyVarious Russian units would use RG-VO chemical grenades (tear gas), contrary to international conventions. Among them are the 114ᵉ and 136ᵉ motorized gunbrigades, certain drone units, as well as the Russian National Guard.

Videos broadcast by the Russian state media and internal correspondence obtained by the Ukraine Security Service (SBU) suggest that these units have already used this type of grenades and ordered new plots in 2025.

In July, Ukraine asked the organization for the ban on chemical weapons (OIAC) to investigate the forbidden by Russia of chemical agents in his war against Kiev. This request follows the reports of the Dutch and German Intelligence Services, which reported on Friday that they had proof of the general use by Moscow of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

The Institute of Applied Chemistry, which produces RG-VO, is identified as a supplier of the National Guard and a chemical military training field in the Sarato-Oblast. The institute continues to receive components for these grenades of Russian companies that have not yet been sanctioned by the West.

However, the use of toxic substances is forbidden by the Convention on Chemical Weapons and the Geneva Convention. The Ukrainian army claims that Russia has used such weapons several times.

In May 2025, the European Union punished three Russian units related to these practices. Two months later, the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, accused Moscow of intensifying the use of chemical weapons to try to capitulate Ukraine.