MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has lost its authority, and there is now a question mark over the future of this organization, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing in Moscow on Friday.
"[Western] countries continue to purposefully draw the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons into their geopolitical game. You, our dear Western partners, undermined its [OPCW] reputation a long time ago. It was undermined by never-ending scandals around falsified reports claiming chemical provocations in Syria. It destroyed not only its authority, but, in principle, put a question mark over its future," Zakharova said.
Western countries that are OPCW members engaged in lawless conduct "by pressing through decisions of its governing bodies that run counter to the Convention," she said.
Another problem is that "the secretariat of the organization is subject to its own interests," Zakharova said.
All this "undermines the work of the OPCW," she said.
"Also, I'd like to remind everyone that as of today the U.S. remains the only signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention that has yet to finalize the destruction of its declared chemical [weapons] arsenal," Zakharova said.
"Possessing quite impressive financial and technological potential, the American side is nevertheless not in any hurry to dispose of its stockpiles of this type of weapons of mass destruction," she said.
Since the 1980s, "scientific research and R&D efforts focusing on chemical warfare nerve agents have been underway," she said.
"As puzzling as it seems, they are qualified under the Russian name 'Novichok' in the West for political motives," Zakharova said.
"The American authorities have registered more than 140 patents linked to the use of such substances for military purposes," she said.
"As the story around Russian blogger Alexei Navalny has shown, a large number of U.S. allies, including in Europe - Germany, France, and Sweden, have full knowledge and technologies to generate and produce the so-called 'Novichoks'," she said.
"In this context, accusations that Russia allegedly has what they describe as a 'state program' on chemical weapons and thus 'undermines the norms' of the Chemical Weapons Convention look like dishonest attempts to find some formal excuses to counteract Russia through sanctions pressure, something which is absolutely cynical and has already become customary for the U.S. and its allies," Zakharova said.