The Chairman of the Committee
on Defence, member of the CSTO PA Standing Committee on Defense and Security
Andrey Kartapolov
Andrey Valerievich
at the 15th CSTO PA plenary session presented a report “On the sources and risks of biological and chemical hazards in the CSTO area of responsibility and near its borders.”
He recalled that “more than 200 nuclear bombs are kept near the borders of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty at six military bases in five European countries.”
Andrey Kartapolov stressed that in case of an intentional destruction of nuclear power facilities in Ukraine, there still would be a threat of large-scale radioactive contamination, and in that case, the release of radioactive substances would affect whole Europe.
“Speaking about chemical threats, an intentional destruction of chemical industry facilities could lead to the formation of large-scale contamination zones,” the parliamentarian said.
“The US military biological programmes in various regions of the world pose a great security threat,” stressed the Chairman of the Committee on Defence. “Research is being conducted in three areas – monitoring, collection of strains and research work to study the properties of pathogens that can be transmitted to humans,” said the parliamentarian.
Andrey Kartapolov added that, according to available data, the USA controlled more than 300 biological laboratories in 30 countries of the world along the borders of their geopolitical opponents.
He recalled the deterioration of the epidemiological situation in Ukraine, outbreaks of swine and avian flu and other dangerous diseases that the United States of America tried to present as natural ones through its military biological programmes.
“Everyone understands that such experiments are the most reckless actions, because they make it impossible to control the further development of the situation. The recent coronavirus pandemic has already proved that, as its origin raises many questions,” added Andrey Kartapolov.
In addition to research and development of biological weapons components, the US pays great attention to the preparation and creation of delivery methods of those components, as added the parliamentarian.
The Chairman of the Committee on Defence added that, taking into account the threats of a radiation, chemical and biological nature, it was proposed to continue further improvement of the system for monitoring and assessing the NBC situation.
“The desire of the United States of America to hide information about its military biological activities in Ukraine and the uncovered details of its programmes allow us to confidently speak of a gross violation by the United States of Amercia of its international obligations as a member of the BTWC,” emphasized Andrey Kartapolov.
He also urged the parliamentarians of all countries to create an appropriate atmosphere for the governments of their states to strengthen the BTWC regime.
Andrey Kartapolov called the signing of bilateral memorandums of understanding in the field of biosafety “an important element in the joint enhancement of NCB protection.” He recalled that similar memorandums had already been signed by Russia and Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and also planned to be signed with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
“Thus, the stable functioning and improvement of the system for monitoring and assessing the NBC situation is one of the key vectors of interstate cooperation within the framework of the CSTO,” said the Chairman of the Committee on Defence.
