Russia-Ukraine war: At UNSC, India again demands ban of biological weapons

India on Friday once again stressed on the importance of prohibition of the use of biological weapons that could potentially turn the Russia-Ukraine conflict into a biochemical war, maintaining its stand from last week’s United Nations Security Council meeting.

Calling for consultations, India said it attaches “high importance” to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) as a key global and non-discriminatory disarmament Convention.

“It is important to ensure full and effective implementation of the BTWC in letter and spirit. We also believe that any matter relating to obligations under the BTWC should be addressed as per the provisions of the Convention and through consultations and cooperation,” said R Ravindra, India’s deputy permanent representative at the UNSC briefing.

India’s concerns emanated from Russian foreign minister Maria Zakharova’s claims that Ukraine was running chemical and biological labs with the help of American support.

Russia called for an emergency meeting of the global security council to address the US bio-laboratories in the war-torn country, an allegation that the US has firmly denied once again.

“Last week, we heard from the Russian representative a tirade of bizarre conspiracy theories. This week, we’re hearing a whole lot more of things that sound like they were forwarded to him on a chained email from some dark corner of the internet,” said US representative at UNSC.

“Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program, there are no such labs, not near Russia’s quarters, not anywhere. There are only public health facilities… It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law,” she added.

Last week, too, the envoy to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield had defended Washington’s position stating that Ukraine did not have a biological weapons program as claimed, adding that it was Russia that could use chemical or biological agents in Ukraine.

“We sincerely hope the ongoing direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would lead to cessation of hostilities. There’s no other alternative except the path of diplomacy and dialogue. The dire humanitarian situation needs immediate and urgent attention,” TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, had said in response.