MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. Only 89 out of 184 member states of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) took part in a meeting of member states convened by Russia over the United States’ and Ukraine’s violation of the Convention’s Articles 1 and 4, chief of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological protection force, Igor Kirillov, said on Monday.
"We already said that ahead of the event (it took place in Geneva on September 5-9 - TASS) the United States strongly demanded member states issue a joint statement on the allegedly "peaceful nature" of the Biological Threat Reduction Program and some of the countries signed it," he said.
According to Kirillov, many countries refused to take part in the meeting being afraid of the United States’ possible reaction and a threat of sanctions. "Only 89 out of 184 BWC member states took part in the meeting. Only 43 delegations took the floor during the event. More than half of them (22 states) either supported Russia’s position or took a neutral position. Twenty-one states, including Ukraine, the United States and most of its NATO allies were against. But there was no accord even among them," he said.
"Russia’s statements made many states think about the risks of cooperation with Pentagon in the military biological sphere and to look with a fresh eye at the expediency of such cooperation. Emotional pro-American speeches were orchestrated by head of the US delegation Kenneth Ward, who is currently the U.S. Special Representative to the Biological Weapons Convention," he noted.
Kirillov drew attention to the documents evidencing that Ukraine was trying to terminate cooperation with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), an agency within the United States Department of Defense. Thus, a commission comprising representatives from Ukraine’s Security Service, Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and the State Veterinary Service made a decision on the inexpediency of continuing DTRA projects in Ukraine, however the US administration continued to impose them on Kiev.
"US Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft’s address of February 8, 2013, where he demands the minister of agrarian policy exert pressure on his subjects to extend a DTRA project for four more year, can be seen as evidence of the US administration’s pressure. Even despite the fact that in its response letter of March 13, 2013 the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food tried to refuse from participating in the Biological Threat Reduction Program, the implementation of this project was continued," Kirillov said.