UNITED NATIONS: India told the UN Security Council meeting on Friday said it attaches importance to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and stressed that any matter relating to obligations under the convention should be addressed through consultations and cooperation between the parties concerned.
India reiterated the importance of prohibiting the use of biological weapons that could potentially turn the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict into a biochemical war, maintaining its stand from last week's United Nations Security Council meeting.
"India attaches high importance to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) as a key global and non- discriminatory disarmament Convention, prohibiting an entire category of weapons of mass destruction," India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador R Ravindra said.
Speaking at the UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine on Friday, he said 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 between the parties concerned," he explained.
India reiterated that it remains deeply concerned at the progressively deteriorating situation in Ukraine.
Welcoming the latest round of diplomatic talks between Russia and Ukraine, he said India believes that immediate cessation of hostilities and diligently pursuing the path of dialogue and diplomacy is the only way forward in achieving peace in the region.
"We need to undertake this engagement keeping in mind the need to respect the principles of the UN Charter, international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity of States," he added.
Six Western nations have accused Russia of using the UN Security Council to launder disinformation, spread propaganda, and justify its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
And the US is again warning that Moscow's claim that the US has biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine "is really a potential false flag effort in action."
Friday's council meeting was supposed to be for a vote on Russia's draft resolution on humanitarian relief for Ukraine which has been widely criticised for making no mention of Moscow's invasion of its neighbour.
Russia instead raised allegations again of US involvement in biological warfare activities, which have been repeatedly denied by both the United States and Ukraine.
The six Western nations, US, UK, France, Albania, Ireland and Norway, delivered a joint statement just before the council session, saying: "This meeting and these lies are designed for one purpose, to deflect responsibility for Russia's war of choice and the humanitarian catastrophe it has caused."
They stressed that Russia has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law and has a well-documented history of using chemical weapons, not Ukraine.
"There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories, not near Russia's border, not anywhere," US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
Reiterating the Biden administration's serious concern of a potential false flag effort, the US envoy said, "We continue to believe it is possible that Russia may be planning to use chemical or biological agents against the Ukrainian people."