Ukrainian Mission in Geneva responds to Russia regarding "bioweapons" and "Slavic ethnicity"
Kateryna Tyshchenko - Friday, 1 April 2022, 23:10
The Permanent Mission of Ukraine in Geneva has emphasised that Ukraine is fulfilling its obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and has never developed and does not intend to develop biological weapons.
Source: Oleksandr Kapustin, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations Office at Geneva, during the Conference on Disarmament session on 31 March, quoted by the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to Geneva
Details: The meeting was planned to discuss the format for the future work of the conference this year. However, Russian Permanent Representative Gennadiy Gatilov disrupted the usual discussions and made absurd accusations against Ukraine about alleged involvement of Ukrainian medical and biological institutions in biological weapons development programmes.
According to Kapustin: "Ukraine is diligently fulfilling its obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), has never developed or and does not intend to develop biological weapons, and reports annually to the BTWC Implementation Support Unit on its compliance with the Convention."
"This disinformation campaign is another Russian attempt to invent yet another artificial reason and provide at least some explanation and justification for its unprovoked aggression against Ukraine."
More details: The Permanent Mission of Ukraine recalled that Russia's insinuations about Ukraine's alleged participation in the US military-biological programme have been considered by the UN Security Council twice and both times were unequivocally rejected by the majority of its members.
"Ukraine's cooperation with the United States and other partners is exclusively peaceful in nature and aims to increase the capacity of Ukraine’s medical and biological institutions to counter outbreaks of infectious diseases and provide appropriate assistance to the citizens of our country," Kapustin stressed.
He also warned representatives at the Conference on Disarmament that the powerful disinformation campaign accusing Ukraine of alleged involvement in the production of bioweapons launched by the Russian federation could be Russia’s way of preparing its use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine against civilians, with subsequent accusations that our state has committed its own war crimes.
Background: On 31 March, Gennadiy Gatilov, the Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations and international organisations in Geneva, made a number of accusations against Ukraine. In particular, he said that Germany had implemented its own military-biological programme in Ukraine, under which Ukraine had pledged to supply Germany with "samples of blood of the Slavic ethnic group."
On 18 March, the UN Security Council for the second time rejected fake Russian accusations regarding the alleged existence of "US military and biological activities in Ukraine".
