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State Department’s report on arms control covers US’s own violations, says diplomat

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Washington continues to undermine the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. US Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford’s report on the alleged non-compliance of the USSR and Russia with the arms control treaties between 1984 and 2020 is a Washington’s attempt to cover its own violations, Russian Foreign Minsitry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"Even a superficial analysis of the material indicates that [the report] could hardly be called a serious analytical paper that reflects the real state of affairs in arms control," she said. Obviously, this is made to create a negative image of our nation as some vicious violator of international agreements and, in doing so, to distract the international community’s attention from US’s real steps to dismantle the established system of agreements and treaties in this area."

"We would like to fill in the gap of this document and to remind the facts: it was the US who destroyed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) on the Iranian nuclear program, and now work to dismantle the Treaty on Open Skies," Zakharova reminded.

The diplomat underscores that "simultaneously, Washington continues to undermine the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty."

"The US have no political, legal or moral right to provide assessment of other nations’ compliance with the arms control treaties. Their aspirations to appropriate this function are futile," she pointed out.

Zakharova called on the US colleagues to "focus on substantial expert dialogue on a wide array of arms control issues instead of such unfounded public accusations that border informational aggression.".