In soviet russia...

[Is Don on the phone?]

Courtesy of Jane's....

Evidence from tissue samples of the German survivors apparently implicated some kind of narcotic gas comprising chlorinated hydrocarbons, including the possibility of an opiate-based narcotic anaesthetic such as trimethyl fentanyl.

Fentanyls are not specifically banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention, but their use may have been a sensitive enough issue for the Russian authorities to keep silent on their true nature.

Nerve agent involvement now seems increasingly unlikely. There are well-known antidotes to nerve agent poisoning but these may not have been available within the timescale of this incident.

What a country!