In the midst of the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict, India backed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which prohibits the use of biological weapons, before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday.
India supported the convention and stated that it is critical to ensure that it is implemented in its entirety.
“India attaches high importance to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) as a key global and non-discriminatory disarmament Convention, prohibiting an entire category of weapons of mass destruction,” India said in response to UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu’s remarks on biological activities in Ukraine.
“We also feel that any situation relating to duties under the BTWC should be addressed as per the provisions of the Convention and via consultations and cooperation amongst the parties concerned,” India’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the Security Council stated at the UNSC.
The accusations come in the wake of Russia accusing the US of using “biological weapons” in Ukraine. Russia called a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York yesterday to consider a draught law on humanitarian aid in Ukraine that it has presented. During her turn at the meeting, however, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of a false flag operation.
Russia-Ukraine war – Moscow calls biolabs in Ukraine as threat to Russia & whole of Europe
She went on to suggest that Russia is propagating conspiracy theories and using its rhetoric to plot a false flag strike and blame others for doing the same, referring to Russia’s claims of creating bioweapons in Ukraine. She went on to say that Russia’s deception is often regarded as a sign of desperation.
Russia claims to have found ‘proof’ of six viruses at US-funded Biolabs in Ukraine.
According to Mykhailo Podolyak, the Ukrainian President’s Advisor, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was called on March 18 at Russia’s request, with an exceedingly cynical and misleading agenda on new facts of US military and biological action in Ukraine. He said that Russia attempted to disseminate new information about US military-biological activity in Ukraine, but the UNSC rejected the claims of Russia.
Biolabs
Earlier in March, the Russian Defense Ministry announced additional results based on papers received from Ukrainian laboratories’ experts. Pentagon developed a network of over 30 biological facilities in Ukrainian territory, according to Igor Kirillov, the Russian armed forces’ chief of radiation, chemical, and biological defence.
The US accuses Russia of staging a false flag operation and disseminating conspiracy theories at a UNSC meeting.
Convention on Biological and Toxin Weapons (BTWC)
The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), often known as the Biological Weapons Convention, is a disarmament pact that prohibits the research, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling, and use of biological and toxin weapons. The Convention went into effect on March 26, 1975. It’s worth noting that the BTWC also calls for the abolition of current biological weapons. It also puts a ban on an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).