NEW YORK, UN. Oct 6 (Interfax) - The OPCW Technical Secretariat is becoming a tool of Western countries for exerting political pressure on unwanted states, and this applies to the Navalny situation as well, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.
"Everything that is marked 'made in the OPCW' evokes association with some sort of manipulations and falsifications. Let us say frankly: the [Technical Secretariat] TS is becoming a tool that the West uses to exert informational and political pressure on 'unwanted' countries. Involvement of the TS in anti-Russian campaigns also supports this conclusion," Nebenzya said at a UN Security Council meeting addressing the implementation of its Resolution 2118.
"We saw this happen earlier - with the Skripals incident, where questions float unanswered up in the air, and we see this happen again today. I mean the situation around alleged poisoning of [Alexei] Navalny in Russia," he said.
"For some reason, upon Western countries' first call for 'technical assistance' the OPCW Technical Secretariat readily hurries to 'investigate' in the very same direction that matches the political conclusions already made about some 'irrefutable evidence' of commissioned poisonings," he said.
"In spite of this, we invited OPCW inspectors to Russia to establish the details of what had happened. We did this because we really have nothing to hide," Nebenzya said.
"Allegations that Russia try to 'undermine' the authority of the OPCW are absolutely unsubstantiated," he said.
"Russia remains interested in objective investigations, but we will oppose disinformation and blatant lies," he said.