Biological Weapons Convention compliance

On this latter point see T. Bernauer, Verification of Compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention Developing Countries Between Passive Participation and Obstruction, in Oliver Thranert (ed.), The Verification of the Biological Weapons Convention Problems and Perspectives, Report No.50 (Bonn Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 1992), pp.55-67. 

The differences between the opposing blocs were exemplified in their early proposals. In March 1972, the Soviet Union, its East European allies and Mongolia presented a draft convention which was closely modelled upon the Biological Weapons Convention. It proposed a comprehensive approach to the problem by applying the purpose criterion to the scope of the prohibition (that is, banning all chemical agents of types and in quantities which could not be justified for peaceful purposes). It left issues of compliance to be settled by... 

Ibid., pp. 31, 64 M. Popovskiy, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence House of Representatives, The Sverdlovsk Incident Soviet Compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention 96th Congress, second session (29 May 1980) p. 5. 

The Biological Weapons Convention has been signed by around 150 countries. However, there have been a number of allegations that the convention has been breached. Recent years have seen increasing suspicion in the West about the USSR s BW capability and the direction of its research, while a number of commentators have been critical of BW research in the United States. These factors inevitably lead to questions about the effectiveness of the Biological Weapons Convention and also reflect on the prospects for CW arms control - if compliance with a BW Convention cannot be satisfactorily guaranteed, how can there be confidence that a ban on chemical weapons... 

The non-use of chemical weapons in the Second World War did not lead to their abandonment. Since 1945 there have been numerous allegations that chemical and biological weapons have been used. Many of these have not been substantiated. They have, however, demonstrated the propaganda value of alleging the use by opponents of chemical weapons. This chapter considers some of the more serious allegations made since the Second World War. More recent claims of Soviet non-compliance with the Geneva Protocol and the Biological Weapons Convention are considered in chapter 5. 

TRILATERAL PROCESS. During the early 1990s, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (and, after its dissolution, Russia), the United Kingdom, and the United States engaged in a secret diplomatic process known as the trilateral process. The United Kingdom and United States used this process in an attempt to clarify the nature of violations of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) that took place in the USSR and to verily future compliance with the BTWC by Russia. See also BIOPREPARAT. 

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