Russia could use Western weather data to plan chemical attack in Ukraine

Russia continues to receive almost instantaneous meteorological data from foreign governments, which some experts say could be used to plot a chemical or biological attack in Ukraine.

That’s according to Reuters, Ukrinform reports.

Washington and its allies have warned that Moscow could be planning to use chemical or biological arms. Still, Russian agencies keep receiving weather data from foreign countries, including the U.S. and Britain.

That includes near-real-time measurements of wind speed and direction, sunlight, precipitation and other factors that could become crucial in the attack planning, the report stresses.

The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), a Germany-based intergovernmental organization, says it provides data feeds to Russia, despite three other bodies in Europe having stopped doing so.

EUMETSAT operates technical infrastructure allowing data from satellite feeds to be distributed to clients almost instantaneously. There are 21 such recipients in Russia, the organization said, stopping short of disclosing their names.

Some Western weapons experts suggest there’s a risk the meteorological data provided by EUMETSAT could be used for military purposes, including to plan chemical and biological attacks, both banned under international law.

“If, hypothetically, you’re planning an attack where you are spraying out a cloud of chemicals or pathogens you will need to take meteorological data into account,” wrote Filippa Lentzos, a biological threats expert and senior lecturer at King’s College London. “You wouldn’t want this stuff blowing back on your own forces!”

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a chemical weapons expert and visiting fellow at Britain’s Cambridge University, said weather data “is absolutely crucial” during chemical and biological weapons use, to ensure gas and pathogens don’t not blow back on users. “Knowing the wind direction and speed at various heights is key to predicting where the hazard will go,” he said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, referring to the data provided by the Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security, the Russian military grouping deployed in Ukraine has in its ranks chemical weapons experts, which could indicate preparations for a chemical attack against Ukraine.