West says no biological weapons in Ukraine, Russia disagrees
The US and its Western allies on Thursday rejected Russia’s claims that US-backed banned biological weapons activities were taking place in Ukraine, calling the allegations misinformation and fabricated.
Russia’s UN ambassador said Moscow would investigate its allegations that the two countries were violating a convention banning the use of biological weapons.
The dispute came at the third meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine-related issues, which Russia has called since Tuesday. It focused on a 310-page document that Russia circulated to council members this week alleging there is “military biological” activity in Ukraine backed by the US Defense Department.
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The document includes an official complaint to the Council, permitted under Article VI of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972, and a draft resolution authorizing the Security Council to establish a commission to address Russia’s claims. Will do
Russia’s allegation of secret US biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian politicians and White House and Pentagon officials. An Associated Press investigation in March found that the claim was taking root online, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon followers and some supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Ukraine has a network of biological laboratories known as the U.S. They are owned and operated by Ukraine and are part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction Program, which aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or man-made, of mass destruction. To work in the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Union’s program for weapons, the U.S. The efforts returned.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Thursday’s meeting “a huge waste of time”, dismissing Russia’s allegation as a “pure fabrication brought to the fore without any evidence”.
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She said the claim is part of Moscow’s “disruptive campaign” that is attempting “a desperate strategy to divert attention from the atrocities being perpetrated by the Russian military in Ukraine and to justify an unfair war”.
“Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program,” she said. “The United States does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States.”
British Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council that since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine it has “repeatedly spread propaganda, including wild claims involving dirty bombs, chemical weapons and aggressive biological research.”
“How much more do we have to endure about this crap?” He asked.
Norway’s ambassador Mona Jul said: “The sole purpose of these false allegations is to provide a smoke screen …
French ambassador Nicolas de Rivire condemned “this fifteenth attempt by Russia to make us forget that it is in violation of the UN Charter” and again accused Moscow of “using the Security Council as a propaganda platform”. ” accused of.
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Other council members, including China and India, focused on a major problem with the Biological Weapons Convention: unlike the convention banning the use of chemical weapons, it has no provision to verify compliance and investigate complaints.
China’s deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang urged the 197 state parties’ conference in late November to resume verification talks “that have been stalled for more than 20 years.”
Last month, state parties met at Russia’s request on activities in biological laboratories in Ukraine, but a final report said it was not possible to reach a consensus.
The UN’s Deputy High Representative for Disarmament, Adedeji Ebo, told the Council that this was the first time Article VI of the Convention had been invoked with a complaint to the Security Council.
He reiterated statements in March and May that the United Nations “is not aware of any such biological weapons program” and “currently has neither the mandate nor the technical or operational capability to investigate this information.”
But Ebo said: “Should the Council launch an investigation, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs stands ready to support it.”
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West says no biological weapons in Ukraine, Russia disagrees
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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