Lavrov warns that Russia could leave a chemical weapons watchdog

: Alexander Zemlianichenko, AP
MOSCOW (AP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Russia could abandon the global chemical weapons monitoring organization after member countries voted to allow the group to award responsibility for chemicals

In an interview with Channel 4 News in Britain, Lavrov denounced a vote this week authorizing the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to blame the United States for Use of chemical weapons. Russia and 23 other countries voted against the movement initiated by Britain.

Lavrov says "if this is not repaired, I believe the days of the OPCW would be numbered, at least it would not be a universal organization". Britain claims that Russia was responsible for poisoning by a nerve agent in England of a former Russian spy and her daughter, an assertion that Russia has denied. Both nations expelled diplomats in the conflict.