The Western community is turning the OPCW into an instrument of political pressure on unwanted countries in order to achieve its geopolitical interests. Russia's Permanent Representative to the organization, Alexander Shulgin, said this to TASS on Thursday, commenting on the adoption of a resolution at the 25th Conference of States Parties that limits the rights and privileges of Syria.
"This is an absolutely detrimental decision that makes the work of the organization even more politicized and unpredictable," he said. - "The OPCW, originally technical by its nature, designed to promote the destruction of existing stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world and to create the necessary conditions for the non-reproduction of this type of WMD in the future, by the efforts of the Western community - in which the US, France, Britain and other countries "play the first fiddle" - is turning into an instrument of political pressure on unwanted countries in order to achieve their geopolitical interests". "A very dangerous bias, fraught with unpredictable consequences," the diplomat stressed.
"In fact, the West has sent us a clear message: if anyone is not with us, we will make a criminal regime out of him," - Shulgin said: " The next time it may happen again, any other country whose authorities for some reason are unwilling to comply with the guardians of this world order that is based not on international law, but on rules invented by them".
Earlier, members of the OPCW approved a resolution restricting the rights and privileges of Syria. Of 136 member states that voted for the resolution, 87 supported it. Russia and 14 other countries spoke out against the document, which deprives the Arab republic of the right to vote at the Conference of the OPCW Participating States and the organization's Executive Council, to be elected to its membership, as well as to hold any conference, council and auxiliary structures events on its territory.
The resolution was submitted to the OPCW members at the initiative of France and was supported by 46 states. The reason for its preparation was the report of the investigation and identification team, which was published on April 8, 2020. The document claims that the Syrian authorities are responsible for three incidents of poisonous substances that took place in the locality of Al-Lataminah in Homs province in March 2017. The group's activities have been repeatedly criticized by the Russian Federation.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS