Britain outflanks Russia over nerve agents
UK’S diplomatic initiative could see rogue states officially blamed for chemical attacks
BRITAIN is poised to score a diplomatic victory over Russia next week that will enable international weapons inspectors to point the finger of blame at states that use chemical weapons, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
The move will come at an emergency summit of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, which was convened at the UK’S request last month following a resurgence in the use of chemical weapons in recent years.
At present, inspectors are able to determine if chemical weapons have been used, but not pass judgment on who was responsible for using them, even if the evidence is clear.
Attempts by Western powers to create an international “attribution mechanism” at the UN level have been repeatedly blocked by Russia wielding its Security Council veto, leaving the international inspections regime toothless in the face of violations.
These include multiple attacks in Syria where Russia is lending military support to the Assad regime. The most recent was in April when a chemical attack with barrel bombs in Douma dropped from Syrian regime helicopters provoked allied air strikes.
North Korea is also accused of breaking the taboo over chemical weapons after agents used a VX nerve agent to assassinate the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.
The British decision to call a special conference of the OPCW came after a rare Novichok nerve agent was used in Salisbury in March in the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal, the former Russian agent – an attack the Government unilaterally blamed on Moscow.
Recent attempts to get the OPCW to condemn Syria for using chemical weapons have failed to win enough support in the organisation’s 41-seat executive, where 28 votes are needed to pass resolutions.
But Moscow appears to have been outflanked after the UK succeeded in calling a “special conference” of the OPCW where the mechanism can be passed by a two-thirds majority of nations present. Diplomatic sources said that nearly 90 of the OPCW’S nominal 193-country membership are expected to attend the summit next Tuesday and Wednesday, requiring about 60 to vote in favour of the British proposal.
UK sources said that Russia has done its best to block the plan, calling on support from allies like Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, but that, barring last minute accreditation hitches, there was “quiet confidence” the vote would go through.
If successful, UK sources believe the move will be a demonstration of solidarity at a time when global institutions, from trade to climate change and Nato, face growing pressure.
As such, British diplomats working on the OPCW vote are at pains to say that it is not a “finger-pointing exercise” over Salisbury, but an effort to restore the health of the global multilateral system, which is at risk of breaking down.
Moscow has reacted angrily to the plans, which have been backed by both Washington and Paris, accusing the West of “politicising” the OPCW.
Syria, North Korea and Russia all deny carrying out the chemical attacks of which they have been accused.