Russia castigates UK’s insinuations for OPCW

Russia considers the UK’s insinuations over Russian chemical weapons as direct disrespect for the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Georgy Kalamanov said on Wednesday.

Kalamanov who is heading the Russian delegation made this statement at the 89th session of the OPCW Executive Committee.

"We see the UK’s continued insinuations as downright disrespect for the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and OPCW member states," the deputy minister said.

"The Organization has officially confirmed that in September 2017 Russia completed full elimination of all its national stocks of chemical weapons under the strict international control," he said.

"However, as is prescribed by the Convention, regular OPCW inspections continue in Russia at former chemical weapons facilities, including those that were converted for purposes that are not prohibited by the Convention, and also in the production areas of chemical industry enterprises falling under the criteria established by the Convention," Kalamanov noted.

"No violations have been revealed," he said.

All these indisputable facts "are absolutely ignored by a limited group of states that are parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which in the heat of the anti-Russian euphoria are even resorting to exterritorial sanctions, thus trampling upon the UN Charter and the generally recognized norms of international law," the head of the Russian delegation said.