Russia will not fund any events linked to the establishment of a mechanism within the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that attributes blame over violations, Russian envoy to OPCW Alexander Shulgin said Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) Russia will not fund any events linked to the establishment of a mechanism within the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that attributes blame over violations, Russian envoy to OPCW Alexander Shulgin said Monday.
"We consider the decision on the establishment of a blame-attributing mechanism illegitimate, it was adopted by less than a half of member states of the Chemical Weapons Convention. This decision does not correspond to the statutes of the convention, and that is why we are not going to associate ourselves [with it] and we are not going to finance events linked to the establishment of the mechanism," Shulgin told Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
In June 2018, OPCW members voted in favor of the UK proposal to expand the organization's mandate by allowing it to assign blame over chemical attacks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed concern over the decision to expand the mandate.
