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Russia to stay on as observer in OPCW — ambassador

In November, Russia came within a hair of being re-elected as a member of the OPCW Executive Council, as Moscow’s candidacy garnered 65 votes, falling one vote short of the required minimum

THE HAGUE, February 9. /TASS/. Russia will continue to act as an observer at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) after leaving the body’s Executive Council in May, Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands and Russia’s permanent representative to the OPCW Vladimir Tarabrin told TASS in an interview.

"Even though Russia will drop out of the [OPCW] Executive Council in May, our work within the organization will not stop," the Russian diplomat emphasized. "We are set to continue taking an active part in all informal consultations to be hosted by the organization," he added. According to Tarabrin, being an observer in the OPCW enables member countries to make statements and publicly voice their opinion on the body’s agenda.

In November, Russia came within a hair of being re-elected as a member of the OPCW Executive Council, as Moscow’s candidacy garnered 65 votes, falling one vote short of the required minimum.

Tarabrin blamed that situation on the hostile campaign being waged by the collective West in order to squeeze Russia out of senior OPCW positions. Also, owing to what he called a flawed voting formula, those who supported Russia were forced to give their votes to Russia’s opponents. "But despite such an artificially created inequality in starting positions, Russia beat out almost all its rivals in the number of pure votes it collected. Frankly speaking, that came as an unpleasant surprise to our opponents at the OPCW," he said.

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