Lavrov announced serious questions about the military-biological activity of countries abroad

MOSCOW, September 23 - RIA Novosti. The military-biological activity of a number of countries outside their national territory raises serious questions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a seminar on national implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC).

The minister's video message was shown at the beginning of the seminar.

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention was the first international legally binding instrument to outlaw an entire category of weapons of mass destruction, the minister said.

“However, half a century later, the problem of ensuring biological security has not lost its urgency. Among the risk factors are the transboundary nature of biological threats, the potentially inappropriate use of biotechnologies, as well as the possible use of biological agents and toxins as terrorist weapons,” the head of the Foreign Ministry emphasized.

“A serious question in the context of compliance with the Convention is raised by the military-biological activity of individual states outside their national territory under the pretext of cooperation for preventive or other peaceful purposes, as stated,” Lavrov said.

In this regard, efforts to universalize and strengthen the BTWC regimes are more in demand than ever, he noted.

Russia considers the main priorities in this area to be the development of a universal, legally binding and non-discriminatory protocol of the convention with an effective verification mechanism, as well as strict compliance by state parties with obligations under the treaty at the national level, the minister said.