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RUssia fears that the Western powers will decide to launch a biological attack to provoke and blame Moscow, suggested Wednesday the high diplomat of the country to the Security Council of the United Nations.
"The way things are happening gives us reason to believe that nothing can be ruled out today, including a provocation involving biological weapons," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia has been accused of complicity in repeated attacks on chemical weapons. The most direct charge concerned the use of a "nerve agent" to attempt to murder a former Russian agent of dual British nationality. But President Vladimir Putin's government has also joined forces with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, whom US and European leaders accuse of using chemical weapons against Syrian rebel groups and civilians hostile to his regime. Russia defends Assad against these accusations, accusing them of terrorists and Western conspiracies.
Lavrov's comments have introduced fear of a biological attack in recent UNSC debates. "In view of the attempts I have just mentioned to manipulate the status of the Chemical Weapons Convention, I would like to warn against the temptation to use the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention for the same purpose", did he declare.
This is a reference to the efforts of the West to empower the Organization for the Prohibition of the Use of Chemical Weapons to identify the perpetrators of gas attacks when their investigators confirm that the attacks took place. Lavrov said that such an "attribution function" violates international law that prohibits chemical weapons and constitutes an "infringement of the prerogatives of the Security Council".
Russia has blocked a joint investigation mechanism set up by the Security Council and the OPCW to investigate gas attacks in Syria, saying that Assad's assessments of guilt were politically motivated. Lavrov raised the specter of biological attacks a few weeks after US ambassador Nikki Haley said that Russia had launched such accusations in view of the war crimes committed by the Assad regime.
"As in the past, the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies are spreading lies about who is at the origin of the chemical weapons attacks in Syria," Haley said at a meeting of the US government. September 6, UNSC. "In fact, if the past is a guide, Syrian and Russian attempts to blame others for the use of chemical agents are an indication that the Syrian regime still believes it can use these horrific weapons with impunity and that the Syrian regime could be preparing to use these horrible weapons in future attacks. Nobody – I repeat – no one is fooled.
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