HC Deb 01 November 2000 vol 355 c538W
Dr. Julian Lewis

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of current Russian compliance with the provisions of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. [135041]

Mr. Hain

The United Kingdom makes global assessments on compliance with all arms control regimes, including the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which draw upon intelligence sources. We do not comment on intelligence matters.

Russia is a state party and depositary Government of the BTWC and is currently participating in the negotiations in Geneva on a compliance protocol to strengthen the convention. We very much hope that these negotiations will be successful, as such a protocol would improve transparency of the activities which could be abused for the development of biological weapons and provide internationally agreed mechanisms with which to pursue compliance concerns.

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