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ABSTRACT
Novichok agents are a class of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In light of the use of a Novichok agent in Salisbury in March 2018, two sets of proposals to amend Schedule 1 of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) have been put forth, one jointly by the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, and the other by Russia. Both sets of proposals will be discussed and voted upon at the next Conference of States Parties of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in November 2019. If either set of proposals is approved, it will be the first time that the list of chemicals subject to verification under the CWC will have been modified. This viewpoint will discuss these proposals, and argue that, if adopted, the joint proposal and the portions of the Russian proposal upon which consensus can be reached would significantly strengthen the CWC by considerably expanding the coverage of its Schedule 1 and bringing Novichok agents firmly within the CWC’s verification system. We also argue that, since the OPCW Technical Secretariat did not deem the fifth group of chemicals proposed by Russia to meet the criteria for inclusion in Schedule 1, Russia should withdraw this part of its proposal from consideration. The proposals have also served an important purpose in clarifying the identity of the chemical agent used in the Salisbury incident, squarely placing it within one of the two families of Novichok agents described by the Russian chemical-weapons scientist and whistleblower Vil Mirzayanov. If either proposal is approved in November, it will be important to conduct a thorough assessment of key precursors for the synthesis of Novichok agents and assess the need to amend CWC schedules and national and multinational export-control lists accordingly.
Notes
1 CWC, April 29, 1997, Annex on Chemicals, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/CWC/CWC_en.pdf>.
2 CWC, Annex on Chemicals, Schedule 1; CWC, Verification Annex, Part VI.
3 CWC, Annex on Chemicals, Schedule 2 and Schedule 3.
4 CWC, Verification Annex, Parts VII and VIII.
5 CWC, Article II, Definitions and Criteria.
6 OPCW, “Report of the Sixteenth Session of the Scientific Advisory Board,” April 6, 2001, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/SAB/en/sab-16-01_e_.pdf>.
7 Vil S. Mirzayanov, State Secrets: An Insider’s Chronicle of the Russian Chemical Weapons Program (Denver: Outskirts Press, 2008), pp. 142–49; P.R. Chai, B.D. Hayes, T.B. Erickson, and E.W. Boyer, “Novichok Agents: A Historical, Current, and Toxicological Perspective,” Toxicology Communications, Vol. 2, No. 1 (2018), pp. 45–48; G. Vásárhelyi and L. Földi, “History of Russia’s Chemical Weapons,” Academic and Applied Research in Military Science, Vol. 6, (2007), pp. 135–46, <http://m.ludita.uni-nke.hu/repozitorium/bitstream/handle/11410/1866/15vasa.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y>.
8 Stefano Costanzi, John-Hanson Machado, and Moriah Mitchell, “Nerve Agents: What They Are, How They Work, How to Counter Them,” ACS Chemical Neuroscience, Vol. 9, No. 5 (2018), pp. 873–85; A.M. King and C.K. Aaron, “Organophosphate and Carbamate Poisoning,” Emergency Medicine Clinics, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2015), pp. 133−51; Alessandra Rossodivita, Matteo Guidotti, Massimo C. Ranghieri, Elisaveta Jasna Stikova, and Curtis E. Cummings, “Chemical Warfare Agents—Medical Aspects and Principles of Treatment, Part I − Nerve Agents,” in Curtis E. Cummings and Elisaveta Jasna Stikova, eds., Strengthening National Public Health Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agent Threats (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2007), pp. 103−11.
9 Mirzayanov, State Secrets, pp. 142–49.
10 J. Allister Vale, Timothy C. Marrs, and Robert L. Maynard “Novichok: A Murderous Nerve Agent Attack in the UK,” Clinical Toxicology, Vol. 56, No.11 (2018), pp. 1093–97; “Russian Spy Poisoning: What We Know So Far,” BBC News, October 3, 2018, <www.bbc.com/news/uk-43315636>; “Amesbury Novichok Poisoning: What We Know So Far,” BBC News, August 2, 2018, <www.bbc.com/news/uk-44721558>; “Salisbury Novichok: Second Police Officer Poisoned,” BBC News, August 15, 2019, <www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-49361327; “Skripal Case Descends into a Propaganda War,” Der Spiegel, April 7, 2018, <www.spiegel.de/international/europe/britain-on-defensive-in-skripal-novichok-case-a-1201573.html>; Letter of Sir Mark Sedwill, United Kingdom’s National Security Adviser, to the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, April 13, 2018, <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/699819/Letter_from_the_UK_National_Security_Adviser_to_the_NATO_Secretary_General_regarding_the_Salisbury_incident.pdf>.
11 OPCW, “Summary of the Report on Activities Carried out in Support of a Request for Technical Assistance by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Technical Assistance Visit TAV/02/18),” S/1612/2018, April 12, 2018 <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/S_series/2018/en/s-1612-2018_e___1_.pdf>; OPCW, “Summary of the Report on Activities Carried out in Support of a Request for Technical Assistance by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Technical Assistance Visit TAV/03/18 and TAV/03B/18 ‘Amesbury Incident’),” S/1671/2018, September 4, 2018, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2018/09/s-1671-2018%28e%29.pdf>.
12 OPCW, “Note by the Director-General: Request for Information from States Parties on New Types of Nerve Agents,” S/1621/2018, May 2, 2018, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/S_series/2018/en/s-1621-2018_e_.pdf>.
13 Scientific Advisory Board, “Response to the Director-General’s Request to the Scientific Advisory Board to Provide Advice on New Types of Nerve Agents,” SAB-28/WP.1, July 3, 2018.
14 Mirzayanov, State Secrets, p. 24; D. Hank Ellison, Handbook of Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents, 2nd edn. (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2007), pp. 240–45; Steven L. Hoenig, Compendium of Chemical Warfare Agents (New York: Springer, 2007), pp. 79−80.
15 Costanzi, Machado, and Mitchell, “Nerve Agents”; E. Halámek and Z. Kobliha, “Potenciální bojové chemické látky [Potential chemical-warfare agents],” Chem Listy, Vol. 105 (2011), pp. 323−33; Hanusha Bhakhoa, Lydia Rhyman, and Ponnadurai Ramasami, “Theoretical Study of the Molecular Aspect of the Suspected Novichok Agent A234 of the Skripal Poisoning,” Royal Society Open Science, February 16, 2019, <https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.181831>.
16 Ellison, Handbook of Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents, pp. 37−42; Hoenig, Compendium of Chemical Warfare Agents, pp. 79−80.
17 Mirzayanov, State Secrets, pp. 142–49.
18 Ibid.
19 Costanzi, Machado, and Mitchell, “Nerve Agents.”
20 Mirzayanov, State Secrets, pp. 142–49.
21 Ibid.
22 Mirzayanov, State Secrets, pp. 148–151.
23 Seyed Esmaeil Hosseini, Hamid Saeidian, Ali Amozadeh, Mohammad Taghi Naseri, and Mehran Babri, “Fragmentation Pathways and Structural Characterization of Organophosphorus Compounds Related to the Chemical Weapons Convention by Electron Ionization and Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry,” Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, October 5, 2016, <https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.7757>.
24 CWC, Annex on Chemicals, Schedule 2.
25 Statement by HE Ambassador Paul Van Den Ijssel, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the OPCW at the Sixty-Second Meeting of the Executive Council, EC-M-62/NAT.3, January 14, 2019, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/01/ecm62nat03%28e%29.pdf>.
26 OPCW, “Recommendation for a Change to Schedule 1 of the Annex on Chemicals to the Chemical Weapons Convention,” EC-M-62/DEC.1, January 14, 2019, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/01/ecm62dec01%2B%28e%29.pdf>.
27 OPCW, “Summary of the Third Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board Temporary Working Group on Investigative Science and Technology,” SAB-28/WP.3, June 4, 2019, pp. 10–11, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/06/sab-28-wp03%28e%29.pdf>.
28 Statement by HE Ambassador Kenneth D. Ward Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the OPCW at the Fourth Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, November 22, 2018, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2018/11/rc4nat07%28e%29.pdf>; Statement of Canada to the Fourth Review Conference Delivered by Ambassador Sabine Nölke, Permanent Representative, November 22, 2018, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2018/11/Canada%20-%20EN%20FR.pdf>.
29 Mark Urban, The Skripal Files: The Life and Near Death of a Russian Spy (London: Macmillan, 2018), p. 229; Steven Rosenberg, “Salisbury Attack: Scientist Vladimir Uglev ‘Helped Create Novichok’,” BBC News, April 19, 2018, <www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43828580>.
30 “Opening Remarks of the Director-General at the Sixty-Third Meeting of the Executive Council,” OPCW, February 25, 2019, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/02/190225.DG_ECM63_Opening_Remarks_WEB.pdf>.
31 OPCW, “Summary of the Third Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board Temporary Working Group on Investigative Science and Technology,” pp. 10–11.
32 Ibid.
33 Embassy of the Russian Federation in The Netherlands, “Briefing of Ambassador Alexander Shulgin and Victor Kholstov,” February 26, 2019, <https://netherlands.mid.ru/web/netherlands-en/-/briefing-of-ambassador-a-shulgin-and-v-kholstov>. A high-resolution photograph of one of the slides from their presentation is available at: <www.anpfoto.nl/search.pp?page=1&ShowPicture=70620824>.
34 “Impact of Proposed Additions to the ‘Annex on Chemicals’ to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) on Legitimate Commercial Chemical, Biotechnology, and Pharmaceutical Activities Involving ‘Schedule 1’ Chemicals (Including Schedule 1 Chemicals Produced as Intermediates),” Federal Register, Vol. 84, No. 157 (2019), <www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-08-14/pdf/2019-17256.pdf>.
35 Hosseini et al., “Fragmentation Pathways and Structural Characterization.”
36 Ellison, Handbook of Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents, p. 105.
37 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare, Vol. 1: The Rise of CB Weapons (New York: Humanities Press, 1971), p. 65.
38 SIPRI, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare, Vol. 2: CB Weapons Today (New York: Humanities Press, 1971), pp. 43–57, 217, 296.
39 Harold Z. Sommer, George E. Wicks, Jr., and Omer O. Owens, “Chemical Agents,” Patent No. 4,246,416, January 20, 1981, <https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/bf/3c/7c/59861e618f076f/US4246416.pdf>; Harold Z. Sommer and George E. Wicks, Jr., “Chemical Agents,” Patent No. 4,241,212, December 23, 1980, <https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/e4/8a/c9/82ca6ca148f7bf/US4241212.pdf>.
40 Ellison, Handbook of Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents, pp. 123, 130.
41 Ibid., p. 105.
42 G. Vásárhelyi, and L. Földi, “History of Russia’s Chemical Weapons,” Academic and Applied Research in Military Science, Vol. 6 (2007), pp. 139−40.
43 Office of Technology Assessment, Technologies Underlying Weapons of Mass Destruction, OTA-BP-ISC-115 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1993), p. 28.
44 Miroslav Pohanka, “Inhibitors of Acetylcholinesterase and Butyrylcholinesterase Meet Immunity,” International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol. 15, No. 6 (2014), pp. 9809–25, <https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms15069809>.
45 Mirjana B. Čolović, Danijela Z. Kristić, Tamara D. Lazarević-Paŝti, Aleksandra M. Bondžić, and Vesna M. Vasić, “Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors: Pharmacology and Toxicology,” Current Neuropharmacology, Vol. 11 (2013), pp. 315–35.
46 Statement by Nicola Stewart, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the OPCW at the Sixty-Third Meeting of the Executive Council (EC-M-63), February 25, 2018, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/02/Statement%20by%20Nicola%20Stewart%2C%20Deputy%20Permanent%20Representative%20of%20the%20UK%20at%20EC-M-63.pdf>.
47 “Report of the Scientific Advisory Board on Developments in Science and Technology for the Fourth Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention,” RC-4/DG.1, April 30, 2018, <www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/CSP/RC-4/en/rc4dg01_e_.pdf>.
48 Statement by Nicola Stewart.
49 Ibid.
51 Statement by Nicola Stewart.
52 Australia Group, “Export Control List: Chemical Weapons Precursors,” July 2017, <https://australiagroup.net/en/precursors.html>.
53 Douglas B. Walters, Pauline Ho, and Jasper Hardesty, “Safety, Security, and Dual-Use Chemicals,” Journal of Chemical Health and Safety, Vol. 22, No. 5 (2014), pp. 3–16.