US halts over $740,000 in funding for Georgia's disease control center
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The Lugar Center is hosted in Georgia and acted as a facility for US biological experimentations.
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Laboratory scientists at work in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (AP)
On Tuesday, Health Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze announced that the US had halted over $740,000 in funding for Georgia's National Center for Disease Control, which includes the Lugar Center for Public Health Research.
"We might be talking about a maximum of 2 million lari [$740,000]. This needs an assessment. Maybe the sum is even smaller," Sarjveladze told a press conference.
The Lugar Center is hosted in Georgia and acts as a facility for US biological experimentations. It functions under the supervision of the US DoD, other agencies, and some private companies. The center is reported to work with highly contagious biological bodies including anthrax, tularemia, and a number of highly contagious hemorrhagic fevers.
On July 31, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the suspension of $95 million in financial aid to Georgia due to the enactment of a foreign agents law. Georgian media noted that the laboratory typically received $10 million in US funding annually.
Despite the halt in US funding, Nino Tsilosani, a member of the ruling Georgian Dream party, stated on Monday that the majority of research at the contentious laboratory would continue.
Read more: US DoD report warns it is at 'pivotal moment' in biodefense
Russia has consistently expressed concerns about the Pentagon establishing medical and biological laboratories near its borders.
In early 2023, it was revealed that the US is creating components of biological weapons in the immediate vicinity of Russia's borders.
"According to the results of the analysis of documentation and the interview of eyewitnesses, we have no doubt that the United States, under the guise of ensuring global biosafety, conducted dual-use research, including the creation of biological weapons components in the immediate vicinity of the Russian borders," Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical, and biological defense troops of the Russian armed forces.
He noted that the work was conducted in US Biolabs in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics (LPRD and DPR) and Kherson regions.
Read more: Iran urges US not to oppose development of bioweapons convention
