Russia Discourages West From Pushing Its Interest At BTWC Review Conference - Lavrov

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2022) Russia hopes that Western states will not put its interests first at the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) review conference in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention is taking place in Geneva where the member-states will analyze the implementation of the document, outline the directions of work for the new review cycle. The conference provides an opportunity to unite the efforts of the international community around a pragmatic, non-discriminatory and forward-looking agenda. We hope that the Western States will not sacrifice it to their own narrowly self-serving interests as they did with the NPT Review Conference," Lavrov said in a video address to the participants of the Moscow Conference on Nonproliferation.

The 9th Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention is taking place in Switzerland from November 28 to December 16. The convention prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons, and advocates their destruction.

During its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia says it has discovered a network of more than 30 biological laboratories on Ukrainian territory. According to Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops at the Russian Defense Ministry, the Pentagon has been running secret biolabs in Ukraine for years, researching highly dangerous pathogens and exporting biological samples in breach of the BTWC.

In September, a consultative meeting of the states parties to the BTWC was held at Russia's initiative. In October, Moscow brought the issue of violations of the BTWC by Ukraine and the United States to the UN Security Council. The US, the United Kingdom and France voted against the resolution on the international investigation into the case, while Russia and China supported the document. Other countries, including India, Mexico and NATO member Norway, abstained from voting.