WASHINGTON, August 5. /TASS/. Washington is trying to distract attention from its own sins by making allegations of Russia's failure to fulfill its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said this on Friday. His words are quoted by the Telegram channel of the Russian diplomatic mission.
"It is the American favorite tactic to denigrate others in order to distract attention from their own sins," Antonov said. He was commenting on an article by Under Secretary Bonnie Jenkins, stating that Russia is in non-compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and is allegedly keeping undeclared stocks of chemical warfare agents.
"Russia eliminated its chemical weapons arsenal back in 2017. In Washington, and even more so in the State Department, they are well aware of this," he added.
"The US Administration has been feeding the world community with promises to destroy the chemical warfare agents for many years. But it was in no hurry to fulfil the objective. And used the fact that the "deactivation" of ammunition was carried out in the safest manner as an excuse. As a result, the chemical demilitarization occurred with a significant delay - it took the United States more than ten years to get rid of 10% of the remaining weapons," the diplomat noted.
"In case State Department’s representatives have questions concerning Russia's compliance with the Convention, we recommend that they refer to the OPCW documents confirming the complete and successful Russian chemical disarmament," the Russian ambassador stressed.