The chemical structure and action mechanism of a top-secret family of nerve agents known as novichoks may soon be available to a wider pool of researchers through its inclusion into the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) list of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The term
novichok
(meaning ‘newbie’ in Russian) was given by Western scientists to a
class of rarely used nerve agents that were developed in the Soviet
Union and Russia between 1971 and the early 1990s.
The first
public discussion about the existence of these agents took place in the
early 1990s, when Vil Mirzayanov, a chemical warfare expert working for
the Soviet military, revealed their existence. However, Western
intelligence agencies have discouraged public scientific research on
these nerve agents, fearing that such activities could reveal their
chemical structure and mechanism of action. That could in turn
facilitate the proliferation of novichok nerve agents worldwide.
But this attitude shifted drastically after March 2018, when —according to British intelligence— Russian spies used novichok in an attempt to kill Sergei Skripal, a Russian defector to Britain. The British government claims that Russians spies smuggled novichok into Britain by hiding it inside an imitation perfume bottle.
The attempt on
Skripal’s life failed, but it prompted the United States, Canada and
the Netherlands to propose that two categories of novichoks be
chemically identified and added to the CWC list of Schedule 1 chemical
weapons. If that were to happen, members of the OPCW —including Russia—
would be required to declare and promptly destroy any stockpiles of novichoks in their possession.
Russia’s
initial reaction was to oppose the proposal by the United States, Canada
and the Netherlands. The Russian OPCW delegation questioned the
proposal’s scientific validity and dismissed it as politically
motivated. However, according to a report published yesterday in the leading scientific journal Science, Moscow has now agreed with the proposal to list two classes of novichoks
in the CWC list, and even proposed adding a third class of the obscure
nerve agent to the list. Russia also proposed the inclusion into the CWC
list of two families of carbamates —organic compounds with insecticide
properties, which the United States is reputed to have included in its
chemical weapons arsenal during the Cold War.
According to the Science report,
the OPCW Executive Council has already approved Russia’s proposal,
which means that the organization is now close to classifying novichoks
as Schedule 1 nerve agents. If this happens, academic researchers in
the West and elsewhere will be able for the first time to collaborate
with defense laboratories in order to research the chemical structure,
as well as the mechanism of action, of novichoks. This is likely to produce computer models that will shed unprecedented light on the symptoms of novichoks
and the various methods of treating them. But they will also provide
information about the chemical structure of the nerve agent, which may
eventually lead to proliferation concerns.
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