Russia issues latest report on US-funded biolabs in Ukraine
The facilities continue to operate with dangerous pathogens, the defense ministry in Moscow claims.
US-funded biological research laboratories are continuing to operate in Ukraine in spite of official statements indicating that they had been âdeactivated,â the Russian Defense Ministry said in a Friday report on Washingtonâs international pathogen research programs.
According to the commander of Russiaâs Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Moscow has obtained documents that suggest Kiev has continued to coordinate with the Pentagon in the military biological field, including the transfer of pathogenic biomaterials.
Kirillov pointed to an official appeal from âch2m-hillâ â a key Pentagon contractor â to Ukrainian companies participating in a âprogram to counter particularly dangerous pathogens in Ukraine.â
The document reports on the continuation of the Defense Threat Reduction Agencyâs (DTRA) biological program in Ukraine and outlines future tasks, such as consolidating collections of dangerous pathogens and deploying systems for managing bio risks and monitoring the epidemiological situation.
Kirillov also stated that, in January 2023, the government of Ukraine published a new set of requirements for the âaccounting, storage, transportation and destructionâ of various pathogens, which included instructions for the international transportation by air of substances with the highest hazard class. He noted that the transport document templates provided in the guidelines only featured examples of US labs as recipients or senders of the hazardous biomaterials.
The lieutenant general warned that Kiev and Washington could potentially use their research to carry out âprovocations with dangerous pathogens,â which they would later blame on Russia.
In his report, Kirillov reiterated Russiaâs concerns with the potential risks associated with the âdual-useâ programs that the US implements on its own territory and abroad.
He pointed out that the work of US biolabs on dangerous pathogens âseems to be the height of recklessnessâ against the backdrop of viral outbreaks such as anthrax and cholera in various parts of the world and the rise in animal diseases such as African swine fever, avian influenza, and foot and mouth disease.
The commander also drew attention to the US pharmaceutical industryâs attempts to secure âunlimited profitsâ by conducting âdirected evolutionâ research on the Covid-19 virus, in order to âproactively develop new vaccines,â which Pfizer R&D director Jordan Walker admitted to in a Project Veritas expose.
Kirillov also reiterated Russiaâs position that the main goal of US bio programs across the world was to âestablish global biological controlâ by degrading the national health systems of other countries and subverting the provisions of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) with its own rules, which were developed to serve the interests of Washington and its allies.