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UN Security Council to vote on Russian resolution on bio laboratories Wednesday — source

The resolution stipulates that the UN Security Council establishes a commission including all Security Council members to investigate Russia’s complaints for the US and Ukraine regarding their obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention

UNITED NATIONS, November 2. /TASS/. The UN Security Council will vote on the Russian draft resolution implying establishment of a Security Council commission on investigation of US biological laboratories in Ukraine on November 2, a UN source told TASS Tuesday.

"The vote on the draft is scheduled for Wednesday," the source said.

The resolution stipulates that the UN Security Council establishes a commission including all Security Council members to investigate Russia’s complaints for the US and Ukraine regarding their obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention. The commission will have to report its recommendations for the Council by November 30, 2022, and inform the Convention party states about the investigation during the Ninth review conference, which will take place in Geneva on November 28 - December 16.

Earlier, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said signs of Kiev’s cleanup of a military biological program, funded by the US Department of Defense, were discovered during the special military operation. According to the spokesman, employees of the laboratories told about emergency disposal of particularly dangerous pathogens - plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases - on February 24.

On June 9, the Pentagon acknowledged that, in the past 20 years, the US provided support to 46 different civilian laboratories, healthcare institutions and disease diagnostics centers in Ukraine. According to the Pentagon, there are no nuclear, biological or chemical weapons programs in Ukraine, and all cooperation with Ukraine is "peaceful efforts on improvement of nuclear and radiation security, epidemic monitoring, chemical security and readiness to react to epidemics and pandemics.