MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. The vote resulting in Russia's failure to win re-election to the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was held amid unprecedented political pressure, with Russia being subjected to ‘selective execution,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"On November 29, as expected, the Euro-Atlantic allies led by the United States managed to impose [their views] during the ongoing 29th session of the Conference of States Parties in the Hague <...> to elections to the OPCW Executive Council from the Eastern European Regional Group," the statement said. "After Russia, Poland and Ukraine, Lithuania submitted at the very last moment a fourth candidacy for three vacancies from the Eastern European Regional Group, where 18 out of 23 countries are members of NATO and the European Union or see themselves in these structures in the future. The goal was obvious: to deprive Russia of as many votes as possible and ultimately to prevent the traditional re-election of our country to the OPCW Executive Council."
Blackmail and threats
"Unfortunately, the Western opponents still managed to secure a majority of votes for their proxies on the OPCW Executive Council, namely Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine," the statement said. "The reason for this is unprecedented political pressure, financial and economic blackmail, and often outright threats from the West against those participating States that may have supported our country."
The Foreign Ministry pointed out that, "Russia is grateful to all those who did not succumb to such pressure, found the strength to resist the cynical dictates of the Euro-Atlantic allies led by Washington and Brussels, and cast their votes for Russia, which should rightfully have a seat on the OPCW Executive Council, given [that it is home to] the region's largest chemical industry and [takes] the most active position on this specialized international platform, in order to counter the efforts of NATO and EU countries to turn it into a tool of their geopolitics."
Active role
Despite all the anti-Russian aspirations of the Western countries based on anti-democratic postulates of bloc discipline, brutal political pressure on dissidents, blackmail and threats, Russia "together with its allies, partners and like-minded countries will continue to play the most active role on the OPCW platform in order to restore the former authority of this organization and preserve the integrity of the CWC [Chemical Weapons Convention]," the ministry asserted.