MADRID, 14 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations has assured this Friday that it is not aware of any biological weapons program being carried out in Ukraine, after Russia alleged the existence of such weapons.
The deputy to the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Thomas Markram, has detailed that the United Nations is not aware of this type of weaponry and that “this is still the case today”, adding that the organization does not have “neither the mandate nor the technical or operational capacity to investigate this information”.
In addition, Markram has pointed out to Russia that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological Weapons contains several recourse measures best suited to deal with situations where states have concerns.
For his part, Russia’s representative on the UN Security Council, Vasili Nebenzia, has indicated that his delegation has requested a meeting “for the third time” on these biological activities by kyiv because “the United States is directly involved in dangerous biological projects that target a secret military program.
According to Nebenzia, these activities are taking place in central Eastern Europe and on Russia’s western borders, “representing a threat to the biosecurity of their country, the region and the world.”
“There is no information about this in the reports stipulated by the Biological Weapons Convention of Ukraine or the United States, as confirmed by Markram. Preventing such dangerous activity is only possible through our special military operation,” he said.
Likewise, Nebenzia has maintained that, in the two months since the previous meeting of the Security Council, his delegation has received “a lot of evidence” through the taking of water samples from the rivers that flow through Ukraine.
Following these statements, the representatives of other member states of the Security Council have asked Russia for “seriousness” and have urged the Russian representative on the Council to use the appropriate procedure for this type of case.
“They know as well as we do that none of their excuses for invading Ukraine have any basis,” said the British representative to the UN, Fergus John Eckersley. “Let’s be serious here and get back to the facts,” added the French representative, Nicolas de Rivière.
For his part, the US representative to the UN, Richard Mills, has indicated that, “once again”, Russia is using the UN Security Council to “spread disinformation and false news about Ukraine”.
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