Russia will not use biological weapons, a senior Russian diplomat said during a press conference in Geneva on Friday, AFP reports.

The Deputy Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry Kostyantyn Vorontsov dismissed fears that Russia could use such weapons in the war in Ukraine. “This is not a topic of discussion at all,” he told a group of journalists.

Russia “fully and completely abides by its obligations” assumed in international treaties that prohibit the use of these weapons, the Russian diplomat said.

“We do not have a military program related to biological weapons,” and “all our activities in the biological sphere are conducted exclusively for peaceful purposes and nothing more,” said Kostiantyn Vorontsov, speaking to the media on the sidelines of a meeting to review the implementation of the Convention. The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of this category of weapons of mass destruction.

However, the absence of a mechanism to verify compliance with this convention is its major weakness and has been a point of contention for decades.

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