10 Nov 2017 09:38

U.S. shouldn't engage in settling political scores in OPCW-UN JIM mandate issue - Russian envoy

MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax) - The United States should abandon the practice of issuing ultimatums in the issue of extending the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations, Russian Permanent Representative to the OPCW Alexander Shulgin said.

"One cannot use the language of ultimatums with our country. [...] One can only reach agreements with Russia, but one needs to do so on an equal footing and with mutual respect. We are ready for that. The ball is now in our American partners' court," Shulgin said at the 56th session of the OPCW Executive Council on Thursday.

The text of Shulgin's speech was shared with Interfax.

Moscow proceeded from the premise that all discussions of the OPCW-UN JIM and its mandate should take place at the UN Security Council, he said.

"But judging by how our American colleagues excessively politicized this discussion, it looks like they forgot that the OPCW is primarily a technical organization [...] rather than a place for settling political scores," he said.

Moscow does not accept "any insinuations alleging Russia's unscrupulous attitude toward fulfilling its obligations as part of the Convention on the Prohibition and Elimination of Chemical Weapons and ensuring the non-proliferation regime," the Russian diplomat said.