Russia calls for talks on measures to enhance Biological Weapons Convention regime - foreign ministry

MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. Russia calls to support its initiative to hold talks on the enhancement of the BWC (Biological Weapons Convention) regime, the Russian foreign ministry said on Monday, citing director of the ministry’s non-proliferation and arms control department, Mikhail Ulyanov, as saying at a general political discussion in New York. "We would like to draw your attention to the situation around the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons. Over that past years after its enforcement, no serious measures have been taken to enhance its regime, but for a number of trust-building measures," he said. "In the meantime, in conditions of rapidly growing technologies, biological threats are growing likewise. In this connection, Russia has come out with an initiative to organize talks to elaborate concrete measures to enhance the BWC regime," Ulyanov stressed. "We call to support this initiative and endorse a relevant mandate at a BWC review conference in November 2016 so that talks could be launched already in 2017." Read more