MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. The US substitutes the provisions of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention with its own rules in a bid to establish global biological control, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said.
"US efforts to establish global biological control are accompanied by the substitution of BTWC provisions and other norms of international law with US own rules that are designed in American interests, supported by the collective West, and imposed on third countries for implementation," he said at a news conference.
He said this can be seen in the work on specialized international platforms, when Western delegations pushed through some decisions only on issues that were of interest to them, without regard for the priorities of other nations.
The military official said that over the past several years Russia has been promoting practical initiatives to strengthen the non-proliferation regime for biological weapons and to improve confidence-building measures.
As one of the initiatives, Kirillov named the resumption of negotiations on the development of a legally binding protocol to the BTWC with an effective verification mechanism that would include lists of pathogens, toxins, specialized equipment and have a comprehensive nature.
"We believe that for the implementation of this measure it is necessary to use approaches and practical developments of the VEREX expert group. Relevant working documents have been prepared and will be presented at the upcoming meeting in Geneva," Kirillov said.