ISIS’ capacity to produce chemical weapons underscores the timeliness of Russia’s initiative to draft an international convention on the struggle against acts of chemical and biological terrorism, Russian envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Tuesday.
“There has been evidence terrorists have access to chemical weapons production technologies and infrastructures,” Churkin told a UN Security Council session, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
He added: “The availability of chemical weapons production facilities to the Islamic State and the risk of its proliferation around the whole region of the Middle East is a tangible argument illustrating the timeliness of the Russian initiative to draft an international convention in the struggle against acts of chemical and biological terrorism.”
“The threat of chemical and biological terrorism is assuming an increasingly cross-border nature and the task of intensifying the struggle against acts of terrorism is so high that UN Security Council Resolution 1540 aimed at preventing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons from falling into the hands of non-state actors has become insufficient,” Churkin said.
“It is obvious that the classical understanding of notions like arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation have been eroded step-by-step … assuming a new counter-terrorism measurement,” the Russian envoy explained.
Churkin said Russia had suggested drafting a convention on the struggle against acts of chemical and biological terrorism at the UN Disarmament Conference in Geneva in March this year.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
