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Russia to present materials on US biolabs in Ukraine at BWC conference — senior diplomat

Sergey Ryabkov also noted the necessity to perfect confidence-building measures within the framework of the BWC

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Russia’s delegation will hold an event where Russian experts will present materials on the military-biological activity by the US and its allies in Ukraine at the upcoming Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a press conference on Thursday on the eve of the event.

"At the upcoming review conference, the Russian delegation will hold a separate event for all member states where our experts yet again will present in detail the existing materials and questions on the military-biological activity in Ukraine," he said.

According to the diplomat, the current state of affairs vividly demonstrates how important it is to promptly make decisions on bolstering the implementation of the BWC in order to have effective mechanisms to resolve such situations and prevent them in the future. "Together with the vast majority of the convention’s member states, Russia is confident that the BWC may become significantly more effective if a universal legally binding protocol involving all the provisions of the convention with an effective verification mechanism is approved. At the upcoming review conference we will urge to resume the development of such a document," the senior diplomat said.

Ryabkov also noted the necessity to perfect confidence-building measures within the framework of the BWC. "Russia is suggesting to include information on the military-biological activity of the member states abroad in the existing forms of reporting in order to remove questions with regards to such activities. We will work on promoting this initiative together with our associates," he added.