“The Syrian File” and The “Biased” Policies of the Organization for the Chemical Prohibition Organization
Russia's Statement at the United Nations
Russia has commented on the work policies of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons regarding the Syrian file and the pressures that the organization is subjected to by some countries, criticizing the technical secretariat policies in them, saying that it is “biased and politicized against Syria.”
The Russian comment was made by Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Poliansky, who emphasized that “the volume of evidence about irregularities in the work of the organization’s secretariat has crossed until early 2021 a critical threshold, and the problem is much broader than the Syrian file and bears a systemic character, as it revolves around Talking about the crisis of confidence in one of the most credible international organizations in the world in the past, which is now turning into a tool for political manipulation and punishment of unwanted parties.
“The assessments made by former Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Jose Boustany, before the Security Council, reflect the internal situation that threatens serious problems for the organization’s reputation and effectiveness,” he said.
He added, “Moscow has been insisting for a few months to invite the current director general of the organization, Fernando Arias, to discussions on the Syrian file in the Security Council, in order to clarify the outstanding issues, but he used various arguments to avoid attending the discussions.”
The Russian diplomat revealed that “Arias last month submitted a statement to the Security Council, but the Russian deputy delegate criticized it because the Director-General of the organization repeated general ideas known to everyone, after which the public part of the hypothetical conference was cut off for vague reasons, and then converted into a closed format, which allowed Arias would avoid answering the questions of the attendees. ”
Poliansky warned that “the role of the OPCW Technical Secretariat in these endeavors has increased negatively,” blaming it for “abandoning the usual procedures for gathering evidence, manipulating facts, and suppressing and intimidating officials opposed to such activities.”
The Russian diplomat also accused the secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) of “exaggerating the issues related to the Syrian government’s initial declaration on eliminating chemical weapons,” noting that “such issues are a normal matter that many other countries have faced, such as Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, the United States, Libya and Iraq.”
This article originally appeared on RT (Arabic)
