UNITED NATIONS, December 22. /TASS/. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) long ago turned into an obedient tool for the West to use as they like, paving the way for its own collapse, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

"It’s no secret that long ago, the OPCW and its Technical Secretariat essentially turned into an obedient tool to be handled by a group of Western countries, which is required to properly set the stage for more sanctions on Russia," he pointed out at a UN Security Council meeting.

In this regard, the diplomat cited a recommendation to take collective measures against Damascus to prevent Syria from importing dual-use chemicals, equipment and technologies, adopted at the 28th Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) that took place in the Hague between November 27 and December 1. "The decision cannot be described as anything but obvious arbitrariness. Notably, only 65 out of the 194 OPCW member states were willing to associate themselves with the move. This speaks to the crisis within the organization created by Western countries gripped by anti-Syrian and anti-Russia hysteria," Polyansky noted.

"Their actions also dealt a blow to the UN Charter because when insisting on collective measures, they simply ignore the fact that the provision in question makes it possible to take collective measures only based on international law. However, under Article Seven of the UN Charter, it is the sole prerogative of the UN Security Council to decide on fully or partially cutting economic relations with countries. The OPCW has no mandate to do so," he stressed.

"The show they put on, where everyone had a predetermined role, at the conference of the CWC states parties with the aim of preventing Russia from being re-elected to the organization’s Executive Council, came as no surprise. I will not go into detail and will only say that such actions flagrantly trampled on the nomination process based on consensus, enshrined in the CWC, and those who put this show on brought this once reputable organization one step closer to total collapse," Polyansky concluded.