Strengthening controls on Novichoks: a family-based approach to covering A-series agents and precursors under the chemical-weapons nonproliferation regime

ABSTRACT

Novichoks, also known as A-series agents, are nerve agents developed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Once obscure chemicals, they garnered a great deal of attention after their employment in the attempted assassinations of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 and of Alexei Navalny in 2020. Novichok agents were not originally featured in the schedules of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which are intended to support the treaty’s verification regime and declaration requirements. However, following the Skripal incident, the CWC schedules were amended to include Novichok agents. Furthermore, precursors for their synthesis were added to the Australia Group’s (AG) list of chemical-weapons precursors. In this article, we evaluate the recent revisions of the CWC schedules and the AG precursors list, identify the remaining weaknesses of both lists, and make recommendations for further amendments. We recommend strengthening the coverage of the CWC schedules by adding families of Novichok agents with guanidine branches. This is particularly important in light of the Navalny incident, since that incident appears to have involved a guanidine-bearing Novichok agent currently not covered by the CWC schedules. We also propose an approach to the control of Novichok precursors by the CWC and the AG based on families of chemicals rather than individually enumerated chemicals.

KEYWORDS:

• Australia Group
• chemical weapons
• Chemical Weapons Convention
• export controls
• Novichok
• nonproliferation

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8 Costanzi and Koblentz, “Controlling Novichoks after Salisbury.”

9 Mirzayanov, State Secrets.

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12 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>.

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14 Ellison, Handbook, pp. 105–39.

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16 Costanzi and Koblentz, “Controlling Novichoks after Salisbury”; Costanzi and Koblentz, “Updating the CWC.”

17 OPCW Technical Secretariat, “Note by the Technical Secretariat: Consolidated Text of Adopted Changes to Schedule 1 of the Annex on Chemicals to the Chemical Weapons Convention,” S/1820/2019, December 23, 2019, <www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/12/s-1820-2019%28e%29.pdf>.

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19 Costanzi and Koblentz, “Controlling Novichoks after Salisbury.”

20 Mirzayanov, State Secrets, p. 145.

21 OPCW Technical Secretariat, “Request for Technical Assistance by Germany.”

22 Costanzi et al., “Lists of Chemical Warfare Agents.”

23 Costanzi et al.

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25 Costanzi et al., “Lists of Chemical Warfare Agents.”

26 Allan E. Sherr, Catalysts for curing polyepoxides, US Patent 3,308,094, filed November 8, 1962, and issued March 7, 1967; Akifumi Fujitani, Yoshihiro Suzuki, and Tsuneo Tanuma. Curing epoxy resins, Japan Patent 61,133,228 A, filed November 30, 1984, and issued June 20, 1986.

27 OPCW, “Note by the Director-General: 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>.

28 Costanzi et al., “Leveraging Cheminformatics”; Costanzi et al., “Lists of Chemical Warfare Agents.”

29 Stimson Center, “Cheminformatics,” <www.stimson.org/project/cheminformatics/>.

30 Costanzi and Koblentz, “Controlling Novichoks after Salisbury”; Costanzi and Koblentz, “Updating the CWC”; Costanzi et al., “Lists of Chemical Warfare Agents.”

31 Costanzi et al., “Leveraging Cheminformatics.”

1 Stefano Costanzi et al., “Lists of Chemical Warfare Agents and Precursors from International Nonproliferation Frameworks.”