Russia says UN chemical weapons watchog is 'off track'

Russia's UN ambassador charged Friday that the UN's chemical weapons watchdog had been hijacked by politics and its mandate derailed after Moscow put forward a draft Security Council resolution on the OPCW.

Western diplomats fear the proposed Russian measure is aimed at weakening the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has been at the forefront of efforts to shed light on chemical attacks in Syria.

"We are trying to get the OPCW back on track because it (has) slided off the track and now it is so politicised," Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters.

"It was always a technical organ where consensus prevailed, and now we see that it is completely politicised, with politicised agenda from various parties."
The draft text, seen by AFP, notes "with concern the continuing politicisation of the work of the OPCW" which "significantly reduces the efficiency of the organisation's activities."