THE HAGUE, July 15. /TASS/. Russia will try to return to the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and has applied for membership in 2025-2027, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the organization and Ambassador to the Netherlands Vladimir Tarabrin said.

"We have already applied for membership in the Executive Council for the next two-year term in 2025-2027," he said. "Frankly speaking, I would refrain from guessing about our chances. I would only say that we would not have even tried if we did not believe in success."

"Naturally, we understand that our opponents will do their best and spare no effort not to let us be reelected," he stressed. "This is a matter of principle for them. In practice, it will mean that the West may resort to any provocations, fraud, pressure, blackmail, threats, in other words, to use all the tools they have to choke off access to the OPCW steering bodies for us. But, I would like to repeat, we are don’t lose heart. We understand that a lot of laborious work is ahead in the coming months and we are ready for it."

Russia was not reelected to the OPCW Executive Council for another two-year term at the 28th conference for member states in November 2023. It won 65 votes whereas 66 votes were needed. Back then, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine were elected to represent the Eastern European Group in a period from May 2024 to May 2026. Romania and North Macedonia are holding membership until 2025. Russia may claim one of these seats.

The 41-memebr Executive Council is the OPCW steering body. Its members are elected for a term of two years at conferences of member nations. The Council oversees the activity of the OPCW Technical Secretariat and the observance of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

News has been updated (00:11 Moscow time) - corrects typo in headline and date