Russia has asked the United Nations Security Council to investigate U.S. involvement in the alleged development of biological weapons in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry has reported.
«Russia had no choice but to submit a complaint to the president of the UN Security Council to request the launch of an international investigation (into biological weapons), the Russian side has explained, as reported by the TASS news agency.
Moscow has emphasized that it seeks to exercise its legal rights under the provisions of international law enshrined in the UN Charter and the Biological Weapons Convention, which is a fundamental legally binding instrument in the field of security guarantees against the threat of biological weapons.
Russia has also argued that neither Washington nor Kiev were able to give «clear answers» to the questions raised in the framework of bilateral consultations mediated by a support group on the implementation of the Convention, as well as at another consultative meeting held in September in Geneva.
«Instead of a professional dialogue, the Western countries with the Ukrainians focused on propaganda, as a result of which our detailed claims remained unresolved and required additional steps to resolve,» the Russian side has argued.
Following this, Adebey Ebo, the deputy to Izumi Nakamitsu, who is UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, has reminded that the United Nations «has neither the mandate nor the technical capacity to investigate Russia’s allegations,» as quoted by TASS.
The United Nations already assured last May that it was not aware of any tests or programs of this type of weaponry being carried out on Ukrainian territory after Russia alleged the existence of such weapons.
The accusations were also repeated in March, when Moscow requested a meeting before the UN Security Council to discuss alleged U.S. biological or chemical weapons programs in Ukraine.
The request for this meeting came after the U.S. government denied the «false information» allegedly launched by Russia about these U.S. biological and chemical weapons laboratories in the country.
