On April 7 it was signed in Geneva by Amb. R. Wood, the US Commissioner of the Bilateral Consultative Commission under the Treaty. The procedure will be concluded in Moscow where the Decision is to be signed by the Russian Commissioner. Thereafter the Decision is to come into force.

- We thank the Implementation Support Unit (ISU) of the Biological & Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and the UNODA Geneva Branch for convening this virtual workshop in order to promote the BTWC. Russia, being among the founding fathers of the BTWC and one of its depositaries along with the United Kingdom and the United States, attaches high importance to the universalization and the strengthening of the BTWC as well as to the improvement of its implementation. - Since 1975, the BTWC has remained one of the basic pillars of disarmament and international security prohibiting an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. As a collective endeavour it enshrines commitments by its State Parties to promote co-operation for peaceful purposes and provide assistance and protection from biological weapons.

Mr. President, Colleagues, I appreciate the opportunity to address this authoritative forum. 2020 was a difficult year in all respects. It saw a growing destructive trend toward the collapse of the existing international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation regimes, an increasing tension and lack of trust between UN Member States. Unfortunately, the United States continued taking steps to substitute some global "rules-based order" imposed by Washington for international law and the central role of the United Nations. After withdrawing from the JCPOA in 2018 and dismantling the INF Treaty in 2019, the United States decided, in 2020, to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies, thereby undermining international security.

On February 3, 2021 the MFA of Russia and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow exchanged diplomatic notes regarding the completion of internal procedures required for the entry into force of the Agreement to extend the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms of April 8, 2010 (New START). Accordingly, this Agreement entered into force on the same day. Thus the Treaty will remain in effect exactly as it had been signed, without any amendments or additions, until February 5, 2026. The telephone conversation between the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the U.S. President Joseph Biden on January 26, 2021 became key for this development to proceed.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force on January 22. The Russian approach to this treaty has been expressed repeatedly at the relevant multilateral venues and is well known. It will remain the same after the treaty becomes valid. Let me emphasise once again that we respect the views of those who want to renounce nuclear weapons as soon as possible. However, we do not share these positions on reaching this goal, which envision an artificial acceleration of nuclear disarmament. This is why we consider the TPNW a mistake. This treaty is unable to contribute to the limitation and reduction of nuclear arms