For the fourth time this year, Russia accused the United States and Ukraine of being in non-compliance with the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC)—and once again found little support for its allegations. At the conclusion of the Article V Formal Consultative Meeting in September, no other state formally accused these two nations of non-compliance. Russia stands alone in its allegations, with limited support from eight other states. In contrast, more than five times as many backed the United States and Ukraine in rejecting the allegations; the meeting ended with a procedural report that noted no consensus regarding the outcome.

Since the treaty’s adoption in 1975, this is only the second time that a formal meeting was called to consult and cooperate on an alleged violation. The first was in 1997 when Cuba asserted that the United States had disseminated insects to attack its agriculture. The latest meeting may have ended without a decision, but it left little doubt about how isolated Russia is in making these claims.

Source: Jez Littlewood, Filippa Lentzos, “Russia’s alleged bioweapons claims have few supporters,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, October 11, 2022. The complete Text can be read here.