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Russian senator comments on expansion of OPCW mandate

A senator warns the decision on empowering the OPCW to apportion guilt for the use of chemical weapons will make its rulings illegitimate

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Diplomat slams decision on OPCW as blow to chemical weapons prohibition

SUZDAL, June 28. /TASS/. A decision on empowering the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to apportion guilt for the use of chemical weapons will drive this international body into a collapse and will make its rulings illegitimate, the speaker of the upper house of Russian parliament, Valentina Matviyenko said here on Thursday.

"These steps will bring about a split in the OPCW and will make its decisions illegitimate," she said. "This will mean a fall-apart of a yet another highly needed and important agency, which performs expert and technical functions in the field as crucial as the banning of chemical weapons."

"We’ll do everything in our power to rectify the situation as long as we have the capability to do it," Matviyenko said.

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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