OPCW Carries Out Inspection in Russia

Inspectors from the chemical weapons watchdog's technical secretariat, in charge of verifying OPCW members’ compliance, came to the country last week, according to the ministry-linked Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) newspaper.

Separately, Portuguese officials carried out an inspection in Russia under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, while Russia sent its inspectors to Ireland, an OSCE member, and to the United States under their bilateral New START treaty on nuclear arms reduction.

Recently, Russian permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced that London had attempted to use the international body to support the results of its own investigation into the recent scandalous poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Earlier, Russia, Iran and China presented the OPCW with a proposal for a joint investigation into the Skripal case.

Skripal and Yulia were hospitalized in Salisbury on March 4 following what is thought to be a chemical attack involving a nerve agent. Immediately after the incident, London blamed Moscow for the attack, initiating expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and freezing of bilateral contacts. Russia has refuted the British government's allegations pointing at the lack of evidence.