Moscow sees US claims about Russian chemical weapons as blackmail – ministry

Russia regards claims by US Department of State officials it is in breach of international chemical weapons control legislation as attempts to distract attention from internal contradictions, the Industry and Trade Ministry said on Friday. Russia strictly complies with the Chemical Weapons Convention and it has coped in full with its obligations to eliminate the declared chemical weapons stockpiles under the strict control of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the ministry said, according to TASS. The Department of State’s demand Moscow provide guarantees within a certain deadline it will no longer use nerve agents look like “flagrant mockery of common sense.” US allegations about “Russia’s non-compliance with the American chemical weapons law is another attempt to erode international treaties in the field of arms control and elimination,” the statement said, adding that US claims looked like “outright blackmail and unlawful pressure, which Russia cannot tolerate.”