08.07.2020, Moscow.
The United States and Great Britain refused to sign the final protocol regarding biological warfare control measures back in 2001, microbiologist, expert on chemical and biological weapons and former member of the UN Commission on Biological Weapons Igor Nikulin said in an interview with a Rossa Primavera News Agency’s correspondent on July 7.
Earlier, on July 2, UN Secretary General António Guterres, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council, said that the situation with the coronavirus pandemic had revealed the risks of possible biological attacks. He said it was necessary to establish a monitoring institute to monitor compliance with the UN Convention on Biological Weapons, which contains a norm prohibiting the use of infections as weapons.
Nikulin said that in the 90s a tripartite group under the UN was working to investigate the cases of unknown infectious diseases in different regions of the world, “Throughout the 90s, there was a so-called trilateral working group, which included Russia, USA, UK. This group developed control mechanisms. I, too, was involved several times in this group. It reacted to all cases. Let’s us suppose that a strange outbreak of an infectious disease occurred somewhere, then experts just went there and found out what was going on. This group has proved itself quite well”.
However, “the Americans and the British refused to sign the final protocol on biological weapons control measures in 2001, in fact, after that the working group ceased to exist,” said the expert on biological weapons.
He also pointed out that an organization for the prohibition of biological weapons was planned to be established in 2001, “The biological weapons prohibition organization was supposed to be established back in 2001.”
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
