Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Igor Kirillov, Chief of Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, were the main speakers.
Deputy Federation Council Speaker Konstantin Kosachev and Deputy State Duma Speaker Irina Yarovaya chaired a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission on Investigating the Circumstances Linked with the Creation of Biological Laboratories in Ukraine.
The meeting participants summed up the results of the 9th Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, held in Geneva from 28 November to 16 December 2022. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Igor Kirillov, Chief of Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, were the main speakers.
Konstantin Kosachev recalled that, since the last meeting of the parliamentary commission, its members had acted within the framework of working groups and expert meetings dealing with preparations for the 9th Review Conference.
“Members of the Russian Parliament worked to consolidate the international community. For example, both houses of the Federal Assembly passed a joint appeal, with their partners responding positively to it. Russian legislators worked actively at international parliamentary venues, including the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, the ASEAN and CIS inter-parliamentary assemblies and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. We also cooperated actively on a bilateral basis,” the Deputy Federation Council Speaker noted.
In this connection, Konstantin Kosachev added that a declaration on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Kazakhstan contained a separate section on biological security, and that Russia and Belarus had signed a memorandum on biological security on 19 January.
“Members of parliament helped formulate a number of specific proposals to upgrade the mechanism of the convention,” said the Deputy Federation Council Speaker. He noted that a working group of the Biological Weapons Convention had been established for these purposes following the 9th Review Conference. “Members of the parliamentary commission decided to inform this group about the investigation’s findings.”
According to Konstantin Kosachev, the parliamentary commission will monitor issues linked with multilateral talks on drafting an international convention on combating acts of biological terrorism. Its members will also monitor biological risks and will help launch a state information system to facilitate biological security.
The next meeting of the parliamentary commission is scheduled for 6 February, Konstantin Kosachev noted.
The parliamentary commission includes 14 senators and 14 Duma deputies and is chaired by Deputy Federation Council Speaker Konstantin Kosachev and Deputy State Duma Speaker Irina Yarovaya.