On Wednesday (local time), the UN Security Council overwhelmingly rejected Russia’s attempt to set up a commission to look into its unfounded accusations that the United States and Ukraine are engaging in “military biological” activities that are against the convention banning the use of biological weapons.
In the vote on its resolution, Russia only received support from China, with the US, Britain, and France voting “no” and the other 10 council members choosing to abstain.
Because it did not receive the necessary nine “yes” votes, the resolution was not adopted.
The council’s continued opposition to and scepticism regarding Russia’s activities since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 were reflected in the vote of 2-3-10. Russia’s veto authority has prevented the council from taking any steps to counter its military offensive.
Russia circulated the draft resolution and a 310-page document to council members last week alleging that military biological activity is taking place at biological laboratories in Ukraine with support from the US Defense Department.
After the decision, Dmitry Polyansky, the deputy ambassador for Russia, stated that his country was “very upset” that the council had rejected its request to create a committee.
Its draught resolution demanded that the 15 members of the Security Council investigate Russia’s complaint in accordance with Article VI of the biological weapons agreement and submit a report to the council with recommendations by November 30.
Polyansky claimed “Western countries demonstrated in every way that the law does not apply to them” and “are ready to trample any norm, to flout any rule”, accusing them of a “colonial mentality”.
The US voted against the resolution, according to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “because it is based on falsehood, dishonesty, bad faith, and a total lack of respect for this body.”
The resolution, which grants state parties to the biological weapons convention the right to request an investigation at the Security Council, was hailed by Russia’s Polyansky before the vote as “a significant milestone” that would demonstrate whether the Security Council was prepared to act in accordance with international law.
Thomas-Greenfield retaliated, “It is a milestone for Russia’s deception and lies. And everybody can see it.
Independent scientists, Ukrainian politicians, and officials at the White House and Pentagon have all refuted Russia’s first claim that America had hidden biological weapons facilities in Ukraine. An Associated Press investigation in March found the claim was taking root online, uniting Covid-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of former US President Donald Trump.
There is a network of biological laboratories in Ukraine that have received financing and scientific assistance from the US. They are a part of the Biological Threat Reduction Program, a programme run by Ukraine that tries to lessen the possibility of lethal epidemics, whether they are caused by nature or human activity. The US started working in the 1990s to shut down the former Soviet Union’s weapons of mass destruction programme.
Last week, Russia requested a meeting of the Security Council to discuss its accusations, which the United States and its allies in the West fiercely rejected.
Thomas-Greenfield called the meeting “a colossal waste of time” and said the claims are part of a Moscow “disinformation campaign” that is attempting “to distract from the atrocities Russian forces are carrying out in Ukraine and a desperate tactic to justify an unjustifiable war”.
She declared, “Ukraine does not have a biological weapons programme.
“There is no biological weapons programme in the US. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States. “.
UN Security Council rejects Russian request for bioweapons investigation
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