The decision didn’t get adopted on November 3 as solely two Council members — Russia and China — voted in its favour
The decision didn’t get adopted on November 3 as solely two Council members — Russia and China — voted in its favour
India has abstained on one more decision involving Ukraine, this time a movement sponsored by Russia at the us that sought to ascertain a fee to research claims by Moscow that the U.S. and Ukraine are finishing up “military biological activities” in laboratories in Ukraine in violation of the organic weapons conference.
The decision didn’t get adopted on November 3 as solely two Council members — Russia and China — voted in its favour, whereas the U.S., the U.Okay. and France voted towards it and the opposite Council members, together with India, abstained.
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In the reason of the vote, Counsellor A. Amarnath from India’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. mentioned India attaches excessive significance to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which is the primary non-discriminatory disarmament treaty banning an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
“We remain committed to enhancing the effectiveness of the BWC and strengthening its implementation in letter and spirit,” he mentioned.
Mr. Amarnath mentioned that India additionally reiterates the necessity to negotiate a complete legally binding protocol offering for an efficient, common and non-discriminatory verification mechanism to strengthen the implementation of the Convention.
“This is necessary to strengthen the BWC and its implementation by the State Parties and we hope the current situation will provide an impetus for early consideration, negotiation and finalization of such a protocol by the State Parties. Factoring in all these aspects, India has decided to abstain from the resolution,” he mentioned.
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U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in her assertion on the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) decision proposed by Russia on alleged bioweapons in Ukraine, mentioned Washington “voted against this resolution because it is based on disinformation, dishonesty, bad faith, and a total lack of respect for this body.”
She mentioned Russia has failed to supply any credible proof to help these false allegations. “And as you can see from the vote today, no one is buying it except China. I will not devote any more time, energy, or resources to these lies from Russia. Nor should the rest of the Security Council. Not while troops still occupy Ukrainian territory. And not while Russian forces continue to attack Ukrainian civilians and commit war crimes. Instead of letting Russia waste our time, we should focus on the truth and the horrors Russia has inflicted upon the Ukrainian people.”
Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy, talking earlier than the us vote, mentioned the vote “will mark an important milestone for the Security Council”. In his assertion after the decision didn’t get adopted, Mr. Polyanskiy mentioned Moscow “will continue to act within the BTWC [Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention] framework and make the necessary efforts to establish all the facts related to the violation by the United States and Ukraine of obligations under the BTWC in the context of the activities of biological laboratories on Ukrainian territory. Sooner or later, all perpetrators will have to be accountable for such illegal activities in front of the global community anyway”.
Referring to feedback by Mr. Polyanskiy, Thomas-Greenfield mentioned “Russia said this is a milestone. It is. It is a milestone for Russia’s deception and lies. And the world sees it. An overwhelming number of the States Parties that spoke at the Geneva meeting considered that the issues raised by Russia were unsubstantiated and had been conclusively addressed. But that wasn’t enough for Russia.”
Mr. Amarnath famous that India had participated in consultations in Geneva in September on the matter into consideration and had expressed its views on this subject and had additionally expressed them throughout the conferences of the Council earlier.
“I reiterate that any matter relating to the obligations under the BWC should be addressed as per the provisions of the Convention and through consultations and cooperation between the relevant parties,” Mr. Amarnath mentioned.
Mr. Amarnath added that India want to underline the essential function of worldwide cooperation within the discipline of peaceable organic actions and the associated trade of scientific and technical info.
“India emphasises the full and effective implementation of Article 10 of the Convention and underlines that biological related activities for peaceful purposes that are fully consistent with the Convention’s obligations should not be undermined,” he mentioned.
Last week, Russian Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia mentioned at a Security Council assembly that Moscow will put ahead the draft decision that can name for organising and dispatching a fee to research the claims towards the U.S. and Ukraine relating to compliance with their obligations below the (BTWC) and actions of organic laboratories within the territory of Ukraine.
Mr. Nebenzia has mentioned that over a very long time, Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over “military biological activities carried out with the most direct assistance and participation of the U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) in laboratories in the territories of the former Soviet republics away from the North American continent and close to the Russian borders”.
He has mentioned that such actions are carried out “inter alia indirectly through the Pentagon’s Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and private companies that are permanent contractors of the U.S. DoD… This poses a direct threat to the biological security” of Russia.
“In the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Federation obtained a variety of documents and evidence that disclosed the true nature of military biological activities of the U.S. DoD and its contractors with Ukraine in the military biological area,” he has mentioned.
Source: www.thehindu.com