TASS, May 10. The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) held a special session adopting a draft resolution, stipulating the possible closure of the Moscow Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases.

The document calls on Regional Director Hans Kluge to "consider temporarily suspending all regional meetings in the Russian Federation, including technical meetings and meetings of experts, as well as conferences and seminars whose composition is set by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, until peaceful resolution of the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine is implemented."

The draft resolution also suggests to explore options to safeguard the technical cooperation and assistance provided by the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, "including the possible relocation of the aforementioned office to an area outside of the Russian Federation."

The document was proposed by 38 WHO member-states and was backed by Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Israel, Turkey and EU countries. Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan voted against the draft resolution, while Armenia and Kazakhstan abstained.