UN, Nov 1 First Committee of the General Assembly (GA) The UN did not support Russia's draft resolution proposing to update the UN Secretary-General's Mechanism to Investigate Possible Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons, the correspondent reports.
Co-authors of the resolution are Belarus, Venezuela, China and Nicaragua. 30 countries voted for the draft, 65 were against, 77 abstained.
As the deputy head of the Russian delegation to the First Committee, Konstantin Vorontsov, stated earlier, this draft resolution is aimed at ensuring the effective activation of the mechanism as an instrument in the field of international chemical and biological safety.
According to him, Russia is in favor of strengthening the expert and technical potential of this Mechanism. The diplomat also noted that the principles and procedures for investigating the possible use of chemical and biological weapons have not been updated since their approval by the UN General Assembly resolution of December 4, 1990.
According to Moscow, the principles and procedures developed more than 30 years ago are largely may not correspond to modern realities in the field of chemical and biological safety. In particular, as the Russian side believes, new challenges and threats have emerged (including chemical and biological terrorism), as well as a number of technical and methodological innovations that could help increase the effectiveness of the Mechanism.
In the text of the unaccepted resolution Russia proposed that the UN Secretary General ask for the opinions of member states on the current state of principles and procedures and the possible need to update them.