Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the biological military activities conducted by some countries outside their own borders raise serious questions.
Lavrov’s video message was shown at the opening of a seminar on the national implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
Biological threats pose cross-border risks
Lavrov said the convention was the first legally binding international document to prohibit one of the weapons of mass destruction. He said that biological security remained a significant concern even half a century after the convention entered into force.
The Russian foreign minister identified the cross-border nature of biological threats, the potentially improper use of biotechnologies and the possibility that terrorist organizations could turn biological agents and toxins into weapons among the risks.
Lavrov proposes a binding protocol
Lavrov said that some states’ presentation of their biological military activities outside their own territories as cooperation carried out for preventive or other peaceful purposes raised serious questions about compliance with the convention.
Calling for the convention to be universalized and strengthened, Lavrov described the preparation of a universal, legally binding and nondiscriminatory protocol with an effective verification mechanism as a priority.
Lavrov also called on states parties to meticulously fulfill their obligations under the convention at the national level. The Russian foreign minister also called for a system to assess scientific and technological developments in the biological field and for oversight of related research.
