Against the Security Council resolution
UN will not investigate Russia’s biological weapons allegations
11/04/2022, 12:55 pm (Updated)
Moscow accuses the US and Kiev of operating secret labs to develop biological weapons in Ukraine – and is pushing for UN investigations. However, a resolution to that effect has failed in the Security Council. Only one country except Russia voted in favor.
As expected, Russia failed at the UN Security Council with a resolution on biological weapons directed against the United States and Ukraine. The text, based on unsubstantiated Russian allegations that the US is producing biological weapons in Ukraine, received only two votes from Moscow and China.
The United States, Great Britain and France voted against the draft resolution. The remaining 10 countries in the 15-member council abstained. A minimum of nine votes would have been required for approval. The resolution was seen as a renewed attempt to enforce Moscow’s baseless claims.
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, criticized the outcome of the vote. It is an expression of the “typical colonial mentality” of the West. Russia will revisit the issue at the Biological Weapons Convention Review Conference in Geneva from November 28 to December 16.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US voted against the resolution based on “misinformation, dishonesty, ill will and disrespect for the Security Council”. “Nobody falls for it except China,” he added. Last week, the United States and Ukraine categorically rejected accusations that Russia was developing biological weapons. Adedigi Ebo, the UN Deputy High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, has criticized the UN for a biological weapons program in Ukraine. He said he did not know, and had neither the mandate nor the “technical capability” to investigate.
(This article was originally published on Thursday, November 03, 2022.)
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