UN Security Council rejects Russia call for biological weapons probe

Source: The Washington Post.

China was the only country to vote in favour of Russia's motion; the United States, Britain, and France voted “no”, and the other 10 members of the Security Council abstained. Because it did not receive the necessary nine "yes" votes, the resolution was not adopted.

Last week, Russia sent a 310-page document and a draft resolution to the Council's members, saying that the U.S. Defence Department is supporting military biological activity at biological laboratories in Ukraine.

The UN stated that there is no evidence of any "biological weapons" in Ukraine, despite Russia's accusations.

After the vote, Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy ambassador, stated that his country was "extremely disappointed" that the council had rejected its request to form a commission.

According to U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States voted against the resolution, "because it is based on disinformation, dishonesty, bad faith, and a total lack of respect for this body."

The U.S. ambassador labeled the meeting as “a colossal waste of time” and said the claims are Moscow attempting “to distract from the atrocities Russian forces are carrying out in Ukraine and a desperate tactic to justify an unjustifiable war” through a “disinformation campaign.”

She declared at a meeting of the 197 participants of the biological weapons convention back in September, "Russia failed to provide any credible evidence to support these false allegations."

Thomas-Greenfield added that wasn’t enough for Russia and “it inappropriately raised the same false claims here, abusing its position and abusing us.”

Independent scientists, Ukrainian politicians, and officials at the White House and Pentagon have refuted Russia's first claim that America maintains secret biological weapons facilities in Ukraine. According to a March investigation by the Associated Press, the claim first popped up online and was bringing together QAnon followers, COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, and some Donald Trump supporters.

There is a network of biological laboratories in Ukraine that have received money and research support from the United States. They are a part of the Biological Threat Reduction Program, a programme that tries to lessen the prospect of lethal epidemics, whether they are caused by nature or human activity. The United States' efforts date back to the 1990s, when it started to work on dismantling the former Soviet Union's weapons of mass destruction programme.

Russia called for a Security Council meeting regarding its claims last Thursday. Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's ambassador to the UN, accused the US of working in Ukraine with deadly microorganisms, including cholera and plague.