The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Fernando Arias, had a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr Kirill Lysogorsky, on the sidelines of the Twenty-Ninth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CSP-29) in The Hague, Netherlands.
During the bilateral meeting, the two sides exchanged views on various issues related to the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in the downgraded international security environment, including in Ukraine. In this regard, the Director-General touched on the report of the latest OPCW Technical Assistance Visit (TAV) to Ukraine and reiterated his grave concern over the findings in the report. He stressed the responsibility of upholding the norm against chemical weapons by all States Parties to advance peace and global security. He stated: "All 193 OPCW Member States, including the Russian Federation and Ukraine, have committed never to develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, transfer or use chemical weapons. States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention have declared that any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable and would violate the legal norms and standards of the international community."
Ambassador Fernando Arias, the OPCW Director-General during a meeting with Mr Kirill Lysogorsky, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
The Director-General briefed the Deputy Minister on the Organisation's recent efforts in responding to the impact of emerging technologies on the implementation of the Convention.
"To effectively fulfil its mandate, the OPCW has taken a proactive approach in addressing issues related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), mitigating the risks this technology poses, while leveraging the opportunities it creates," said Director-General Arias.
The Director-General also highlighted the vital role of the OPCW Centre for Chemistry and Technology (ChemTech Centre) in ensuring the Organisation adjusts to the rapid development of science and technology. He emphasised that: "The Centre has already proven its worth by enhancing our capabilities to conduct research, analysis and training, maintain robust verification mechanism, as well as deliver capacity building programmes."
Mr Kirill Lysogorsky, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation during a meeting with Ambassador Fernando Arias, the OPCW Director-General
The Deputy Minister said: "I would like to draw your attention to the information provided by the Russian Federation to the Technical Secretariat regarding the use of toxic chemicals by the Ukrainian armed forces."
He stressed the urgent need to deal with the key issues of the CWC including non-proliferation of chemical weapons and provision of assistance to the developing countries in expanding peaceful chemical industry.
Background
The Russian Federation has been an active member of the OPCW since the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in 1997.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention's entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
On 7 July 2023, the OPCW verified that all chemical weapons stockpiles declared by the 193 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997 - totalling 72,304 metric tonnes of chemical agents - have been irreversibly destroyed under the OPCW's strict verification regime.
For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
